Volume 21, Number 2, November 2023 ISSN 2591-2240 (printed ed.) ISSN 2591-2259 (on-line ed.) University of Ljubljana Faculty of Public Administration Central European Public Administration Review Central European Public Administration Review is a scientific peer-reviewed journal that publishes original articles, devoted to the development and analysis of public administration and governance. We are mostly interested in articles on integrative and multidisciplinary research on the field that includes related scientific disciplines, such as law, economics and management as well as political, organisational and information sciences. The journal’s goal is to cover mostly central European space, in not only geographical but mainly contextual sense by supporting administrative reforms in accordance with European principles. 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We would like to thank the following organisations for their support: Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 5 Contents Christina W. Andrews, Michiel S. de Vries 7 Selflessness: An International Comparative Analysis of a Much-Needed Public Value 1.01 Original scientific article Nenad Vretenar, Ana Marija Filipas, Martina Briš Alić 29 Business’ Attitudes Towards Corruption in Selected Central European Countries 1.01 Original scientific article Stefanie Vedder, Benjamin Friedländer, Simon Bogumil-Uçan, Tanja Klenk 53 Does Context Matter? Governance Models in Local Administration 1.01 Original scientific article Nejc Lamovšek 77 Analysis of Research on Artificial Intelligence in Public Administration: Literature Review and Textual Analysis 1.01 Original scientific article Tatjana Kozjek, Anja Bandelj 97 Analysis of Workaholism and Burnout Among Employees of Administrative Units and Two Selected Banks in Slovenia 1.01 Original scientific article Adrián Fábián, Gergő Kollár 119 Trends in the Digitalisation of Public Administrations – In Light of EU Legislation and Domestic Developments 1.01 Original scientific article Mario Rašić 141 Absence of an Oral Hearing in Administrative Disputes: A Comparative Analysis of Slovenia and Croatia 1.01 Original scientific article 165 POVZETKI (SUMMARIES IN SLOVENIAN LANGUAGE) 7 2591-2259 / This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ DOI: 10.17573/cepar.2023.2.01 1.01 Original scientific article Selflessness: An International Comparative Analysis of a Much-Needed Public Value Christina W. Andrews Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil christina.andrews@unifesp.br https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4461-8892 Michiel S. de Vries Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands Distinguished professor at Kaunas Technological University, Lithuania Extraordinary professor at Johannesburg University, South Africa michiel.devries@ru.nl https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6827-2852 Received: 14. 9. 2023 Revised: 2. 11. 2023 Accepted: 5. 11. 2023 Published: 30. 11. 2023 ABSTRACT The purpose  of this paper is to investigate how selflessness is to be measured and how it is to be explained. Adopting an innovative approach to measure selflessness, we assess its prevalence in different regions across the world. We also investigate the factors that explain its emergence and how they interact in predicting it. The level of selflessness differs significantly across the world. Consider- ing the factors predicting it, we find that the likelihood of an individual exhibiting selflessness largely depends on the region they live in. Work- place also plays a crucial role – in OECD countries, working in the public sector increases the propensity for selflessness, but it has the opposite effect in Africa. The research design involves a multivariate analysis of data from the World Values Survey using both straight-forward regression analyses and binary logistic regression. The main findings show that the impact of factors traditionally consid- ered important, such as religious affiliation and employment in the pub- lic, private, or not-for-profit sectors, varies across regions. These region- specific interaction effects are seen, for instance, in the influence of one’s workplace on their propensity for selflessness. Public sector employees are significantly more likely to be selfless than their private sector coun- terparts. However, while working in the public sector increases the likeli- Andrews, C.W., de Vries, M.S. (2023). Selflessness: An International Comparative Analysis of a Much-Needed Public Value. Central European Public Administration Review, 21(2), pp. 7–28 Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/20238 Christina W. Andrews, Michiel S. de Vries hood of being selfless in OECD countries, this relationship is reversed in Africa. In previous academic studies, little attention was paid to such interaction effects and the impacts of religious affiliation, public sector employment, gender, etc. were assumed to be stable all over the world. This study shows otherwise. As per practical implications, the results of our analyses suggest that re- search on values needs to be contextualized. This is particularly important when research aims at offering advice to practitioners. Our investigation has shown that the same factors that enhance selflessness in one part of the world may decrease its presence in other regions. A one-size-fits-all approach is therefore not adequate. Keywords: public values, selflessness, comparative analysis, interaction effects, regional impact JEL: Z00 1 Introduction Bryson, Crosby, and Bloomberg (2014) argued that public values play a fun- damental role in the promotion of public governance. According to these authors, although Public Administration tended to hold on to the goals of ef- ficiency and effectiveness, which played an important role for the New Public Management model, the field is now expanding to include “the full range of democratic and constitutional values” (p. 446). This new movement in Public Administration is based on the idea of good governance, which assumes that businesses, NGOs, and the public at large share the responsibility for solving public problems. According to this view, good governance is facilitated when social actors hold democratic values. This movement has striking similarities to the “New Public Administration”, the movement put in motion by Dwight Waldo and colleagues in the 1960s, which contested the “value-free” outlook of classical public administration and demanded its return to true democratic values, i.e. participation and social equality (Gruening, 2001). Thus, after the dawn of New Public Management, the movement of Public Value Governance is bringing the normative dimension of Public Administration back into focus. Public values are not restricted to governmental institutions, but also include the values sponsored by the typical citizen, being ingrained in the fabric of society (Jørgensen and Bozeman, 2007). Thus, public values encompass al- truism, responsiveness, honesty, ethical consciousness, and other values that may be expressed in government actions as well in the actions of the pub- lic in general. Governments worldwide have endeavored to promote public values within the public service through ethical guidelines, but these efforts have faced challenges in their implementation. A notable example is the No- lan Principles of Public Life in the United Kingdom. Although the public has Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 9 Selflessness: An International Comparative Analysis of a Much-Needed Public Value shown support for these principles, they were less readily embraced by politi- cians (Bew, 2015).1 From the perspective of the Policy Coalition Framework, the outcome of poli- cies is largely affected by shared socio-cultural values (Sabatier, 1988; Sabati- er and Wieble, 2007). While factors determining the outcome of policy collab- oration may vary depending on the level of conflict within policy subsystems (Weible et al., 2018), the ability to trust one’s partners —a fundamental re- quirement for collaboration (Axelrod, 1984, 1997; Ostrom, 1998)— requires a considerable level of shared values (Gillespie and Mann, 2004). Batson and Powell (2003) have argued that altruism is a motivational concept; thus, it may be a cause of prosocial behavior, but the latter may emerge due to factors other than altruism. They define altruism as “(…) the motivation to increase another person’s welfare” (p. 463). Moreover, altruism —or selfless- ness— is the opposite of egoism (MacIntyre, quoted by Batson and Powell, 2003). We will employ the term selflessness throughout this article to steer clear of the connotations of self-sacrifice often linked to the term altruism. In this context, we embrace the notion that altruism revolves around a com- mitment to the well being of other individuals, irrespective of its impact on oneself, whereas selflessness denotes a reduced emphasis on one’s own out- comes (Van Lange, 2008). Consequently, selflessness does not imply neglect- ing self-concern, but rather encompasses a focus on the well being of others as part of one’s concerns. Thunström et al. (2020) conducted a survey in the United States and observed that the majority of individuals in their sample (70%) were willing to undergo a COVID-19 test to prevent the spread of the virus, even if it meant having to self-isolate. This kind of prosocial behavior represents the anticipated result of individuals holding selflessness as a value, which, in turn, is expected to contribute to good public governance. Given the erosion of public values resulting from organizational changes introduced through the New Public Management model (Jurkiewicz and Mujkic, 2021), the focus back to public values becomes increasingly critical. A test for public governance capacity on a global scale is the implementa- tion of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda. In 2015, the vast majority of the world’s countries (193 out of 195) agreed to implement the Sustainable Development Goals agenda, which includes 17 goals related to several matters, from gender equality to climate change (United Nations, 2015). The need for intense collaboration within and across countries is clear enough: “Achieving the 2030 Agenda requires immediate and accelerated ac- tions by countries along with collaborative partnerships among governments and stakeholders at all levels.” (Guterres, 2018, p. 3). In 2021, this challenge remains in place: “A recommitment by Governments, cities, businesses, and industries to ensure that the recovery [from the effects of the COVID-19 pan- demic] reduces carbon emissions, conserves natural resources, creates better 1 One of the most prominent examples illustrating the challenge of holding politicians account- able to the Nolan Principles is the scandal involving celebratory parties that took place at Downing Street 10 during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Subsequently, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson resigned from his position for providing misleading information to Parliament (Castle, 2023). Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202310 Christina W. Andrews, Michiel S. de Vries jobs, advances gender equality and tackles growing poverty and inequalities is a further imperative” (Guterres, 2021, p. 2). At this point, it would be fair to say that the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that this much-needed collaboration is still a work in progress. This line of reasoning carries several implications. To attain the SDGs, glob- al collaboration is essential, as stated by the United Nations (2015): “Since this is a universal agenda, fostering mutual trust and understanding among all nations will be of utmost importance” (p. 36). Governments in developed countries have to acknowledge that the problems that developing countries face are also their problems; people working inside and outside governments need to cooperate. Public employees and private citizens need to care about those living in poverty, impacted by climate change, or suffering from any kind of discrimination. Thus, it is plausible to infer that a value in high demand for the implementation of the SDGs is selflessness. Not only intense collabo- ration and successful governance are needed, but it also should be pointed out that the countries adopting the SDGs agenda have pledged, “(…) that no one will be left behind” (United Nations, 2015, p. 5). This study aims to investigate whether the public and especially public of- ficials in a range of countries adhere to the value of selflessness and what could explain the variance in this adherence. This information could help in addressing possible weaknesses in governance and collaboration in the im- plementation of the SDGs. To answer this research question, the following sub-questions are also addressed in the present investigation: – What is already known from previous research about the determinants of selflessness? – How to measure the adherence to the value of selflessness? – How is the frequency of selflessness spread around the world? – Which factors can explain selflessness? The empirical analysis is based on the data provided by the World Value Sur- vey, a global network of social scientists studying values and their impact on social and political life (WVS, s.d.). To situate our empirical investigation within the scholarly landscape, the next section examines the theoretical approach- es on the role of values in civil society and the public service in particular. In section 3, we describe the research design and methods and, in section 4, we present and discuss the results of the investigation. Finally, in the last section, we put forth the conclusions that can be drawn from our investigation and suggest governmental interventions that can facilitate the implementation of the SDGs. 2 Values, Public Service, and Civil Society In social sciences research, prosocial behavior, selflessness, and generosity are seen as the opposite of egotism and of the selfish maximizing of one’s utility function. As generosity has been the value most frequently studied in the so- Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 11 Selflessness: An International Comparative Analysis of a Much-Needed Public Value cial sciences, we start our discussion examining the empirical findings of the factors may yield generosity, as well as the limitations involved in measuring it. Generosity may be defined as that behavior of “(…) freely giving one’s time, talents, and treasure to others” (Collett and Morrissey, 2007, p. 23). Machan (1998) sees generosity as benevolence toward others, as a trait in those hold- ing moral virtues, which can be cultivated. According to the author, generous people are benevolent because of their character, not because of delibera- tion or calculation. Individual generosity corresponds to one’s concern about other individuals that is not confined to the utilitarian dimensions of life. So- cial generosity is the generosity shown towards a cause —the arts, wildlife, sports, the moral education of youngsters, etc.— without the expectation of receiving benefit or self-gratification, and not to fulfill an obligation or duty. Generosity also has a political dimension. Because benevolence is based on free choice, it can only exist in societies that can guarantee individual free- dom: No law can guarantee perfect virtue; perfect guarantees are never available. But the law can create the framework within which free and responsible individuals can work together to achieve virtue. Experience has shown that the virtue of generosity flourish best when individuals are free. (Machan, 1998, p. 92) Kasser (2005, pp. 358–359) defines generosity as “(…) the extent to which individuals share their money and possessions. Generous people are willing to give away or share their possessions and money, and they make life choices that help other people even if their earnings are diminished.” Generosity also emerges as philanthropy and helping behavior, such as assisting a stranger in an emergency, donating an organ to a relative, or making a donation to chari- table organizations (Bekkers and Wiepking, 2011). The empirical studies exploring the explanations for selfless behavior are of- ten focused on individuals’ willingness to donate money to charitable causes. In these studies, the factor most often mentioned as an explanation for the emergence of selflessness and generosity is religious involvement. Although this association is not found in every context, “[p]ositive relations between church membership and/or the frequency of church attendance with both secular and religious philanthropy appear in almost any article in which this relation was studied” (Bekkers and Wiepkin, 2011). However, it is still an open question whether it is religiosity in itself or rather the involvement (church attendance), the religious context, the specific denomination, and orthodoxy that can be accounted as the explanation for the inclinations to the acting with benevolence towards others (cf. Berger, 2006; Feldman, 2010; Lunn et al., 2001; Wuthnow, 1991). Education is also frequently mentioned as an explanation for generosity in do- nations (Bekkers and Wiepkin, 2011; Yen, 2002). However, in this case, there are still doubts on whether it is education as such that results in more gener- osity, or the type of education. A few studies have shown that alumni in social sciences, history, and law are more generous in their giving than alumni in eco- Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202312 Christina W. Andrews, Michiel S. de Vries nomics, but not all studies have been consistent regarding these findings (cf. Bekkers and Wiepkin, 2011). In addition, the level of education of donors may be positively associated with donations to some social problems, but nega- tively associated with others (Bekkers and Wiepkin, 2011; Srnka et al. 2003). Giving appears to be associated with generalized social trust, verbal intelli- gence, and enhanced confidence in charitable organizations, while education appears to be a mediator in these associations (Bekkers and Wiepkin, 2011). Studies on the factors influencing the level of generosity also have examined factors such as income (high earners tend to donate more); age (older individ- uals tend to donate more than the young); marital status and having children (those married with children donate more), and gender (women give to more causes, but men tend to make larger donations) (Bekkers and Wiepkin, 2011). The findings, however, are mixed; there is no clear-cut conclusion on whether these factors can indeed explain the emergence of generosity. Thus, many other factors need to be explored. We shall point out that selflessness is not always expressed as generosity in making monetary donations. As far as the SDGs are concerned, other aspects of selflessness are more relevant to the success of the agenda. In particular, selflessness among public servants is especially relevant. Within the discipline of Public Administration, Public Service Motivation has been the most influential approach to the role of values in public service (Per- ry and Wise, 1990). At the center of the theory stands the proposition that individuals expressing higher levels of values associated with the dimensions of “self-sacrifice”, “compassion”, and “attraction to public policy-making” tend to seek employment in governmental organizations. In their review of 20 years of PSM research, Perry, Hondeghem, and Wise (2010, p. 683), ar- gued that “[p]ublic administration research on this proposition is limited but generally supportive”. However, as in the sociological research on generosity, they had to acknowledge that the results are mixed. Perry (1997) sought to find out whether parental socialization, religious socialization, professional identification, political ideology, and individual demographic characteristics could explain the level of PSM found in individuals. His initial hypothesis was that the values associated with PSM are developed during initial socialization experiences (family and religion) and through professional identification. He tested these hypotheses through five regression models and found that all yielded weak regression coefficients (ranging from 0.18 to 0.07). For the most part, the PSM levels lacked a strong explanation through early socialization, religiousness, or professional identification. Further empirical studies indicat- ed that the organizational context was a stronger explanation for variation for PSM levels. Kjeldsen and Jacobsen (2013) performed a rare longitudinal study and found no evidence that PSM levels had influenced career choices. They did find that PSM declines more among individuals who entered the pri- vate sector than for those who choose to work in the public service, a result suggesting that socialization in the context of organizations was the main factor influencing the levels of PSM. This hypothesis was further sustained Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 13 Selflessness: An International Comparative Analysis of a Much-Needed Public Value by an investigation conducted by Camilleri (2007). He performed a study to investigate whether personal attributes, role states (conflict and ambiguity due to roles within organizations), job characteristics, employee-leader rela- tions, and employee perception of the organization affected PSM. He noted that positive employee-leader relation had a positive association with PSM, and the factor was relatively strong for the dimensions “commitment to the public interest”, “attraction to policy-making” and “self-sacrifice”. In addition, Camilleri found that positive job characteristics —assumed to increase job satisfaction— also presented a positive association to PSM levels. The role of context in boosting or decreasing PSM is indirectly reinforced by studies focusing on Self-Determination Theory, which has shown the importance of context in the promotion of intrinsic motivation (Andrews, 2016). The growing popularity of PSM within the field of Public Administration prompted researchers to investigate other social and psychological phenome- na, such as altruistic motives, work-related preferences, and prosocial behavior (Bozeman and Su, 2015). These studies have shown that PSM values were not exclusive to public employees but were disseminated in the population at large (Perry, Hondeghem, and Wise, 2010; Bozeman and Su, 2015). Despite the abun- dance of empirical investigations on PSM, Bozeman and Su (2015) note that more investigations taking the concept as a dependent variable are in need. One way of dealing with the dependent/independent problem in PSM is to es- tablish a more precise definition of values. Bozeman (2007, p. 117) specified a value as “a complex and broad-based assessment of an object or set of ob- jects (where the objects may be concrete, psychological, socially constructed, or a combination of all three)”. The assumptions accompanying the definition are: “(1) values expressing evaluative judgments; (2) values having both cogni- tive and emotional aspects; (3) values being relatively stable; (4) values having strong potential to affect behavior; (5) values changing (if at all) only after de- liberation; (6) values helping define one’s sense of oneself” (Bozeman, 2007, p. 17). He argues that “public values” correspond to the normative consensus about: “(a) the rights, benefits, and prerogatives to which citizens should (or should not) be entitled; (b) the obligations of citizens to society, the state, and one another; and (c) the principles on which governments and policies should be based” (p. 132). Bozeman (2007) argues that a society’s public values do not correspond to the aggregate sum of individual public values. However, he ends up not pro- viding clues as to how one could assess public values as a feature of a given society as a whole. He acknowledges that one way of identifying the pres- ence of public values is through public opinion surveys, which aggregate in- dividual opinions to represent the opinion of the population.2 Bozeman sees that values carry an emotional component. As we know, since ancient times, politicians have played the emotions of the public to gain support to certain policies; this may be seen as both legitimate and manipulative. However, pol- 2 While public opinion surveys can be used as a method to examine values in a large population, the method is without its drawbacks. For an exploration of the limitations of public opinion surveys and strategies to address them, see Perrin and McFarland (2011). Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202314 Christina W. Andrews, Michiel S. de Vries iticians also seek to persuade the public to support the values themselves. Civil society’s institutions also compete with one another to reach the “heart and minds” of the public and governmental decision-makers. Thus, different values are offered to the public and the “competing values” are then sorted out through elections (Bozeman, 2007). However, elections do not directly express the public values that the majority of the population holds. As we know, elections more often express how well or how bad the incumbent gov- ernment is doing, and not which values the population holds. Thus, when it comes to the legitimacy and effectiveness of public policies, elections cannot provide adequate answers. The idea that the population at large holds public values —as the concept of PSM has mostly assumed— dovetails with the idea of “public value gov- ernance”. Bryson, Crosby, and Bloomberg (2014) regard as “public values” those values associated with democracy and the common good. They argue that public administration is changing in “response to the challenges of a net- worked, multi-sector, no-one-wholly-in-charge world and the shortcomings of previous public administration approaches” (p. 445). In this dynamic context, public administration is seen as the main warrantor of public values, but citi- zens, businesses, and nonprofit organizations also are required to participate in problem-solving, a perspective that follow the steps of the governance/ network approach (Peters and Pierre, 1998; Rhodes, 1997; Vigoda, 2002). Another attempt to clarify the definition of values is Schwartz’s Theory of Ba- sic Values (Schwartz, 2012). He argues that values present six characteristics: (1) values are beliefs that generate feelings (affection); (2) values move in- dividuals to pursue goals that they regard as desirable; (3) values transcend specific contexts and apply to a broader array of situations; (4) values serve as standards or criteria for action, which are not necessarily conscious to the actor; (5) there is a hierarchy of values – some values are more important than others; (6) because values may conflict with one another, the relative impor- tance of each value is what can move individuals into action. According to Schwartz (2012), “basic values” are values broadly shared among people of different cultures. Among these is “universalism”, i.e. the desire to pursue the goals of “understanding, appreciation, tolerance, and protection for the wel- fare of all people and nature” (p. 7). Schwartz (2012) also notes that values can be bundled as dimensions; benevolence and universalism form the “self- transcendence” dimension, which is in opposition to the “self-enhancement” dimension, comprised of values “that emphasize the pursuit of one’s own in- terests and relative success and dominance over others” (p. 8). In Schwartz’s view, conflicting values are not mutually exclusive; individuals are likely to pursue all the ten basic values, but the more importance one attaches to one dimension, the less one attaches importance to the opposing dimension. We can say that public values (Bozeman, 2007) and universalism (Schwartz, 2012) are analogous. Public values entail one’s caring for the welfare of all individuals. On the other hand, the concept of generosity is not necessarily universal. Some individuals can be generous to family and friends, but still Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 15 Selflessness: An International Comparative Analysis of a Much-Needed Public Value have little regard for strangers. Even considering that the research discussed above assumes generosity as the willingness to help individuals other than one’s kin, the concept of generosity still misses the public character that the concepts of public values and universalism have strived to emphasize. To bring about social change it is not only necessary that public servants at all levels of government share the values that would make this social change possible, but it is also necessary that a significant part of the population share these same values. As we argued above, the SDGs bring high demands on col- laboration between countries and among the several stakeholders involved. Thus, one can expect more difficulties to implement de SDGs in countries where the needed values —especially selflessness— are in short supply. Thus, it is relevant to know what factors are associated with selflessness and wheth- er these factors may be fostered by governmental action. 3 Methods The empirical analysis of the present investigation is based on data provided by The World Values Survey (Inglehart et al., 2014). Although a more recent WVS survey has been released (Haerpfer et al., 2022), the questionnaire for wave 7 has excluded some variables that are relevant to assess selflessness. Because socio-cultural features tend to change only on the long run, we as- sume that the data for wave 6 is still capable to show differences between world regions. The WVS collects data about values and political attitudes, such as support for democracy, tolerance of foreigners and ethnic minorities, support for gender equality, attitudes toward the environment, work, family, and politics, among other topics. The survey in question (2014) collected data in 60 countries, composing a sample of 85,000 respondents. The first issue that this research tackles is establishing a reliable way of meas- uring selflessness. The Schwartz Value Survey scale uses items such as “It is important to this person to do something for the good of society” and “It is important to help people living nearby; to care for their needs” to measure self-transcendence (altruism). On the other hand, items such as “It is impor- tant to this person to be rich; to have a lot of money and expensive things”, “It is important to this person to have a good time; to ‘spoil’ oneself’”, and “Adventure and taking risks are important to this person; to have an exciting life” are used to measure self-enhancement (egoism) (Fontaine et al., 2008; Schwartz and Boehnke, 2004; Spini, 2003; Welzel, 2010). As seen above, ac- cording to Schwartz (2012), self-enhancement (power, achievement) is in op- position to self-transcendence (benevolence, universalism). A problem in this kind of measurement is that the survey questions ask wheth- er and to what extent the statement in each item applies to the respondent. This measures the identification with such values but does not tell us anything about the hierarchy values in the value system of the respondent. Rokeach (1973) noted that a value change entails a change in the whole system of values, i.e., a change in the importance of one value would entail a change in Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202316 Christina W. Andrews, Michiel S. de Vries the whole hierarchy of values. Thus, the best way to investigate which values are central to an individual is simply asking which values are important for the respondent. The WVS includes a question that allows identifying the values regarded as important by the respondent. It is stated as follows: “Here is a list of qualities that children can be encouraged to learn at home. Which, if any, do you consider to be especially important? Please choose up to five! V12. Independence V13. Hard work V14. Feeling of responsibility V15. Imagination V16. Tolerance and respect for other people V17. Thrift, saving money, and things V18. Determination, perseverance V19. Religious faith V20. Selflessness3 V21. Obedience V22. Self-expression” The response categories are ‘Mentioned’ and ‘Not mentioned’. The WVS inter- viewer does not mention to the interviewees what are the possible response options; the respondent has to choose spontaneously which values are impor- tant in children’s upbringing. The WVS 2014 survey shows that 19% of the respondents do mention self- lessness as one of the most important qualities to encourage in children while simultaneously saying that they do not identify with the statement “It is im- portant for this person to help the people nearby; to care for their well-being” (WVS questionnaire, V74B).4 This is a strange outcome, possibly indicating a misunderstanding of the question or that the respondent is not answering the questions carefully. On the other hand, 36% of the respondents that do identify with the statement nevertheless do not mention selflessness as one of the most important qualities to encourage in children. Although this result appears to be more reasonable —people can see selflessness as an important quality to encourage in children but do not see themselves as selfless—, it also indicates a problem in identifying how individuals rank values. To obtain a more precise measurement of the centrality of selflessness, we opted to examine two groups: Group A – individuals who mention selflessness as one of the most important qualities to encourage in children and identify with the statement that it is important to help people living nearby, to care for their needs (these respondents get score ‘1’); and Group B – individuals who do not mention selflessness as one of the most important values in chil- dren’s education and do not identify with the statement that it is important 3 This variable is translated into Spanish as generosidad, or “generosity” in English. 4 Possible answers to this statement include: “very much like me”, “like me”, “somewhat like me”, “a little like me”, “not like me”, and “not at all like me”. The WVS questionnaire is available at http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/WVSDocumentationWV6.jsp Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 17 Selflessness: An International Comparative Analysis of a Much-Needed Public Value to help people living nearby, to care for their needs (these respondents get score ‘0’). Group A respondents are regarded as clearly “selfless”, while re- spondents in group B are regarded as clearly “selfish”. The frequency of self- lessness and selfishness are presented in Table 1; it has also added a column showing the percent of individuals —named “doubtful”— that includes all the other respondents that are not in groups A or B. Table 1. Frequency of selflessness Region % selfless % doubtful % selfish N Central and Eastern Europe 1.6 4.5 93.9 8,708 OECD* 7.8 9.9 82.3 7,271 Asia 12.2 12.2 78.0 15,674 Africa 15.6 11.8 72.6 6,135 Latin America 17.2 10.7 72.1 7,736 The Middle East and Northern Africa 29.0 27.1 43.9 11,274 Total 14.4 12.7 72.9 56,798 * Obs.: Data exclude those countries included in the other categories, such as Poland (Eastern and Central Europe) and Turkey (Middle East). This measurement shows that, on average, 14.4% of people all over the world can be classified as selfless. However, there are huge differences between regions. Whereas 29% of the respondents in the Middle East and Northern Africa region are classified as selfless, only 1.6% in Eastern and Central Europe and 7.8% in the OECD countries are selfless. In Latin America, Africa, and Asia about 15% of the population can be classified as selfless. In general, selflessness (or generosity) is among the least often mentioned qualities among the five most important to be encouraged in children in de- veloped countries. In Germany, only 5.7% of the respondents do mention self- lessness. In contrast, more than half of the respondents in India do mention it. Countries that are in the middle position include: USA (33%), Brazil (32%), China (29%), and Russia (23%). Economic superpowers —USA, China, Russia, and Germany— show the lowest adherence to selflessness. On the other hand, developing countries appear to be holding on to universalist values, as far as selflessness demonstrates. Our next step is to run first a straightforward logistic regression analysis to es- timate the relationship between explanatory variables and the single output binary variable, i.e. selflessness without controlling for interaction effects. We then follow with logistic regression analysis to examine the interactions Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202318 Christina W. Andrews, Michiel S. de Vries effects between the explanatory variables on selflessness. The results and discussion are presented in the next section. 4 Outcomes of the analyses As mentioned above, most empirical studies on explanatory factors for gen- erosity were based on data about individuals making donations. This method has several limitations, including the fact that studies using it rarely allow comparative studies. Departing from the approach of measuring the central- ity of selflessness on one’s value system, we then select variables from the WVS that are commonly mentioned in the academic literature in the fields of public administration and sociology and, using straightforward regression analysis, we test these as possible explanations for “selflessness” (dependent variable). The list of possible explanatory factors and the correlation results are presented in Table 2. Table 2. Straightforward binary regression analysis of known factors on selflessness Independent variables B Sig. Exp(B)* Being non-religious (reference group is religious) -.41 .00 2.13 Women (reference group is men) .22 .00 1.24 Public sector (reference group is employment in government or public institution): Private sector -.47 .00 .63 Not-for-profit sector -.75 .00 .47 Autonomous/informal sector -.53 .00 .59 Supervisory role .17 .00 1.19 Highest educational level -.10 .00 .91 Scale of incomes .04 .00 1.04 Age -.01 .00 .99 Size of town .03 .08 1.03 Constant -.28 .00 .76 * Exp(B) refers to the odds ratio. To understand the outcomes of this analysis, the B in the table refers to the strength of the relation between for instance being non-religious and self- lessness with being religious used as the reference group. It appears to be a negative relation. This implies that being non-religious is a strong predictor for selfishness. This is no co-incidence, but a statistically significant relation. The probability of this relation being due to chance is 0.00 (sign.). The last column Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 19 Selflessness: An International Comparative Analysis of a Much-Needed Public Value gives the odds ratio (exp. (B). It appears that being non-religious results in more than doubling the probability of also being selfish, as the odds ratio is 2.13. Coefficient B shows the strength a given feature/variable has in predicting selflessness when compared to not having this feature. For instance, being non-religious has a strong negative correlation to selflessness when being re- ligious is the reference group (B = -.41; sign. 0.00). This means that being non- religious is a strong predictor for selfishness (the opposite of selflessness). The last column presents the odds ratio, indicating the probability for an individual holding a given feature/variable being selfish/selfless —depending on wheth- er B shows a negative or positive correlation— as compared to not having this feature. Thus, the chances for one individual being non-religious and selfish is more than twice the chances of being religious and selfish [Exp.(B) = 2.13]. The analysis shows that religion, gender, income, being a supervisor, and working in the public sector all have a positive impact on selflessness. Ceteris paribus, religious people are more selfless than non-religious people, women are significantly more selfless than men, and people in a supervisory role are more selfless than those who do not hold such a position. The odds of being selfless are more than twice as high if somebody is religious, 24% higher for women than for men, and 19% higher for people in a supervisory role [see the last column in Table 2]. In addition, the odds of being selfless drop signifi- cantly when the respondent is not working in the public sector. In the private sector, the odds of being selfless are only 63% as compared to the odds of being selfless when working in the public sector. Age has a tiny impact on selflessness, as does education. The size of the town in which the respondent lives does not have any impact on selflessness. Next to being religious and female, the sector in which respondents work seems to have the largest effect on the odds of being selfless; the odds are low in the private sector but especially low in the non-profit sector. To obtain more precise outcomes on the factors responsible for the emer- gence of selflessness, we conducted an additional analysis to examine pos- sible interaction effects. As the dependent variable ‘selflessness’ is a dichoto- mous variable, we continued by analyzing the interactions using binary logistic regression analysis. It is important to underscore that in the previous analysis we assumed a cet- eris paribus situation: the straightforward binary regression analysis assumed no interaction effects. The binary logistic regression analysis, however, shows that interaction effects have a huge impact on being selfless or not. The re- sults of this advanced analysis are presented in Table 3. First, we added the region in which the respondents live; this had a great im- pact on being selfless. The respondents in the Middle East and Northern Afri- ca region are by far the most selfless, while the respondents from Central and Eastern Europe countries are the most selfish. Adding the region one lives in the logistic regression model results in several other factors — such as age, education, and scale of income— losing their effect on selflessness. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202320 Christina W. Andrews, Michiel S. de Vries For instance, the effects of the sector of employment and being religious on being selfless diminish in strength when controlled for region. In the previous analysis, not controlling for the region, individuals working in the private sec- tor were significantly more selfish than people working in the public sector, with people working in the not-for-profit and informal sectors being the most selfless. Controlling for the region, changes these relations significantly. In this case being religious only increase the odds of being selfless with 26% and it seems to matter hugely what religion one adheres to. Being Hindu or Muslim does strongly increase the probability of being selfless, while this is opposite for Catholics and Protestants. That is, if one does not distinguish where those Catholics live. The odds of being selfless are huge for Catholics in OECD countries, Latin America, and Africa compared to Catholics in Asia and Eastern Europe. In Africa, we see a huge difference in selflessness comparing Catholics and Protestants. As to the sector respondents work in, the odds of being selfless are now higher for people working in the not-for-profit or infor- mal sector compared to people working in the public sector. It is important to highlight that the effect of working in the public sector on selflessness varies over regions. The effect thereof is strengthened in the OECD while smaller in Africa. Religiousness also has a strong effect on self- lessness, but, in this case, once again, several interaction effects are notice- able. First, the religious denomination matters. The effect of Catholicism on selflessness is strengthened when combined with living in Africa, Latin Amer- ica, and especially the OECD. In Africa, the effect of Catholicism on being self- less is opposite to the effect of being Protestant: living in Africa and being a Protestant diminishes the odds of being selfless. This could be because in some African countries —like South Africa— Protestantism is the religion predominant among the previous colonizers and Catholicism the religion of many black Africans. A huge effect of religion on selflessness is also seen in the combination of living in Asia and being a Hindu; this more than quadruples the odds of such a person being selfless. In general, this model shows a good performance in predicting who is selfless, according to the criterion described at the beginning of this section. Of all the 4,199 respondents being selfless (group A data), 19% were also classified as such based on the predictors, whereas none would be classified as selfless without the predictors. As to the 9,697 selfish people (group B data), without any predictors, all respondents in this group would be correctly classified as selfish, because they are also the majority. Using the predictors increases the probability of wrongly classifying them as selfless by only 2.6%. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 21 Selflessness: An International Comparative Analysis of a Much-Needed Public Value Table 3. Advanced analysis on selflessness B Sig. Exp(B) Regions: reference group is CEE OECD .92 .00 2.50 Asia 1.79 .00 5.98 Latin America 2.48 .00 11.94 Africa 2.81 .00 16.64 Middle East and Northern Africa 4.20 .00 66.84 Sector of employment: reference group is working in the public sector Private sector -08 .13 .91 Not-for-profit sector .23 .03 1.26 Autonomous/informal sector .24 .00 1.28 Working in public sector in OECD .36 .02 1.44 Working in public sector in Africa -.26 .00 .77 Size of town .04 .00 1.05 Importance of religion .23 .00 1.26 Denomination Hindu .87 .00 2.38 Muslim .65 .00 1.92 Protestant -.59 .01 .56 Catholic -.40 .00 .67 Religions within regions No religion in OECD 1.19 .00 3.30 Catholic in OECD 2.13 .00 8.38 Catholic in Latin America 1.65 .00 5.20 Catholic in Africa 1.76 .00 5.80 Protestant in Africa -.77 .00 .46 Constant -3.29 .00 .037 Exp(B) refers to the odds ratio. Cox and Smith R square = .16 Nagelkerke R square = .27 Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202322 Christina W. Andrews, Michiel S. de Vries 5 Discussion and conclusions The implementation of the SDGs, being a universal agenda, requires from governments and stakeholders a great level of commitment to a common cause. Moreover, this common cause demands that all those involved in the endeavor join together to promote the betterment of all people, as “no one will be left behind” (UN, 2015, p. 5). In this study, we sought to verify whether the public and, especially, public servants hold the values needed for the im- plementation of the SDGs. As selflessness is a fundamental value to promote commitment to such an encompassing a common cause as the SDGs, it was put at the center of our analysis. We also investigated the factors that could explain the emergence of selflessness. We should highlight here that selfless- ness is assumed as a moral virtue that can be cultivated (Machan, 1998). Previous studies have investigated the effects of factors such as religion, edu- cation, level of income, among others on generosity. However, these inves- tigations measured generosity through individuals’ willingness to donate to charities and other causes. Our study took a more direct approach by measur- ing selflessness as the simultaneous response to two questions present in the questionnaire used in the 2010-2014 World Values Survey (Inglehart et al., 2014). These data also allowed us to test the effect of several factors on self- lessness, including factors that are not normally considered in similar studies, such as the sector of employment, position at work, and, more importantly, the region of the world one lives in. The results of our analysis show that the region of the world has a huge im- pact on the probability of one being selfless or not. As seen in Table 1, a very small percentage of the population in Central and East European countries can be regarded as selfless (1.6%), while individuals living in the Middle East and Northern Africa are the most likely to be selfless (29%); individuals living in OECD countries, Africa, Asia, and Latin America stand in between (7.8%, 15.6%, 12.2%, and 17.2%, respectively). Within the OECD, selflessness is somewhat more frequent than in Central and Eastern European countries, but still, only a small minority of the population may be regarded as selfless. Our study also identified strong interaction effects. As shown in the previous section, the region a person lives in has a great impact on being selfless to the point of erasing the effect of factors such as age, education, and level of income. The combination of working in the public sector in an OECD country increases the odds that the person in question is selfless while working in the public sector in Africa has the opposite effect. The results of our analyses demonstrate that research on values needs to be contextualized. This is particularly important when research aims at offering advice to practitioners. Our investigation has shown that the same factors that enhance the odds of finding selfless people in one part of the world may decrease those odds in other regions. One size does not fit all. Nevertheless, the effect of place of work was shown to have a considerable ef- fect on the odds of one being selfless, irrespective of the region one considers. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 23 Selflessness: An International Comparative Analysis of a Much-Needed Public Value It is one of the few factors whose individual effect is resilient in this way. Peo- ple working in the public sector are significantly more likely to be selfless than people working in the private sector, but the effect is even stronger if one is working in the not-for-profit or the autonomous/informal sector. However, as seen above, while working in the public sector increases the odds of one being selfless in the OECD countries, this factor decreases the odds if one is in Africa. The adherence to religion also has a strong effect on selflessness. In itself, this is positively related to selflessness. In the OECD countries, Africa, and Latin America, there is an additional positive effect of Catholicism. This ad- ditional effect is, however, absent in other regions, like Central Eastern Eu- rope or Asia. As to specific denominations, Hinduism and Islam seem to have a much stronger effect on selflessness than Protestantism, or Catholicism. We recognize that there are limitations associated with the way our investiga- tion chose to measure selflessness. Indeed, our approach is novel for it com- bines the importance people attach to caring for one another with the cen- trality of selflessness within their value system. Bardi et al. (2009) proposed that analyses of value change should make a distinction between mean-level changes and rank-order changes. However, in our study, we did not investi- gate possible value changes over time; we performed a “snapshot” analysis of the concept of selflessness within the short period comprising the collection of data for the 2010-2014 WVS wave. Nevertheless, using our measurement and conducting a multivariate analysis, allowed us to correctly classify 77% of the WVS sample as selfish or selfless individuals. How can our findings aid the implementation of the SDGs? The main lesson is that strategies to foster the values associated with the agenda should be tai- lored to each region. In a more specific fashion, our results suggest that pub- lic servants in Africa could benefit from training or mentoring programs that show the collective benefits associated with the SDGs. In contrast, public com- munication programs appear to be especially important in Central and Eastern Europe. Although scholars and practitioners have long been skeptical of the effectiveness of training for value change, there is evidence that benevolent values can be enhanced through specific interventions (Arieli et al., 2014). In addition, it has been argued that the right type of training, not training per se, is capable of promoting change within organizations (Arthur et al., 2003; Garo- falo, 2003). Moreover, recent research in Public Service Motivation has shown that public values are dependent on context (Andrews, 2016). We should also note that value change is, in itself, a moral commitment. Adorno (1963/1998) has put this commitment in a dramatic, though truthful, manner: “The premier demand upon all education is that Auschwitz not happens again” (p. 191). While religion is an important factor in enhancing selflessness, religiosity is a very personal matter. Therefore, governments should refrain from engag- ing in any religious discourse. However, the same values that religious people embrace can be promoted in secular terms. Governments regularly promote public campaigns to tackle social problems such as car accidents, HIV preven- tion, substance abuse, racial discrimination, etc. by reinforcing values such as Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202324 Christina W. Andrews, Michiel S. de Vries self-respect, family bonds, community life, solidarity, and egalitarianism. It should be the case to use governments’ communication powers to explain to the public why the SDGs are worth pursuing, in a way that the agenda’s goals are associated with the values that underpin them. As Schwartz (2012) has argued, the same basic values appear to be present everywhere in the world; the differences are regarding which values predominate over others in dif- ferent cultures or even in different individuals. Therefore, governments may use public communication tools to enhance positive values that are already present in every individual. Considering the extent and the great commitment that the SDGs represent to the vast majority of the world’s countries that signed up for the task, this also implies that more investigations should follow through, providing specif- ic insights on the more effective ways to promote the values that can sustain this universal agenda. 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Applied Economics Letters, 9(13), pp. 837–841. https://doi. org/10.1080/13504850210148189 29 2591-2259 / This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ DOI: 10.17573/cepar.2023.2.02 1.01 Original scientific article Business’ Attitudes Towards Corruption in Selected Central European Countries Nenad Vretenar University of Rijeka, Faculty of Economics and Business, Croatia nenad.vretenar@efri.uniri.hr https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4689-0865 Ana Marija Filipas University of Rijeka, Faculty of Economics and Business, Croatia ana.marija.filipas@efri.uniri.hr https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3539-0275 Martina Briš Alić Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Faculty of Economics, Croatia martina.bris.alic@efos.hr https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3284-8300 Received: 27. 7. 2023 Revised: 2. 10. 2023 Accepted: 24. 10. 2023 Published: 30. 11. 2023 ABSTRACT Purpose: Corruption is perceived as a widespread problem throughout the world, including in Central European countries. In terms of corrup- tion, these countries still lag behind the leading EU countries (as indicat- ed by the 2023 Worldwide Governance Indicators). As corruption itself is very difficult to measure, the perception of corruption is often used as a proxy. The aim of this paper is to analyse attitudes towards corruption in selected Central European countries and to draw conclusions on the factors influencing these perceptions. Based on the assumption that the difference between de jure and de facto transparency matters, we se- lected Czechia, Hungary, and Poland as countries with small differences between these two dimensions of transparency, and Croatia, Slovakia, and Slovenia as countries with large differences. Design/Methodology/Approach: Using Eurobarometer data, we applied logistic regression to analyse attitudes towards corruption in the two groups of countries distinguished by differences in de jure and de facto transparency. Each group, consisting of three Central European countries, was used to create a model, i.e., Model 1 and Model 2, with a total number of observations of 901 and 902, respectively. Both models displayed ad- Vretenar, N., Filipas, A.M., Briš Alić, M. (2023). Business’ Attitudes Towards Corruption in Selected Central European Countries. Central European Public Administration Review, 21(2), pp. 29–52 Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202330 Nenad Vretenar, Ana Marija Filipas, Martina Briš Alić equate fit indices and enabled predictions that allowed us to draw conclu- sions. All respondents were business representatives with decision-mak- ing responsibilities in their companies, ensuring that the results reflect company perceptions rather than those of the general public. Findings: Attitudes towards corruption in the countries studied are re- lated to perceptions of patronage and nepotism in business, perceptions of corruption in public procurement, perceived links between politics and business, and attitudes towards tax rates. In the group where there is lit- tle difference between de jure and de facto transparency levels, business attitudes towards corruption are also associated with perceptions of ad- equacy of infrastructure and complexity of administrative procedures. In the countries where these differences are substantial, attitudes towards corruption are related to perceptions of problems arising from frequent changes in the law, problems with debt collection, and differences in views regarding the severity of bribery depending on the value of the bribe. Academic contribution to the field: This research provides a better under- standing of the factors influencing the perception of corruption in Central European countries from a business perspective. In doing so, it introduces a methodology that is well-suited for the analysis of survey-collected data, especially since it allows the dependent variable to be categorical. Moreo- ver, by using data from the Transparency Index to differentiate countries, the study has the potential to stimulate further theoretical and empiri- cal research into the relationship between corruption and transparency. Lastly, by linking companies’ perceived problems to overall perceptions of corruption, this paper helps to identify the areas within the studied coun- tries where pockets of corruption are most likely to exist. Originality/Value: Previous research has found that corruption tends to occur when the gap between de facto and de jure transparency is larger. This research demonstrates that the size of this gap can also be success- fully used to achieve a better understanding of the factors influencing at- titudes towards corruption. Therefore, this paper employs the difference between de jure and de facto transparency as a categorisation criterion to analyse the factors influencing the perception of corruption. This cat- egorisation approach enabled the development of two separate logistic regression models with high predictive power. Keywords: de jure transparency, de facto transparency, corruption, attitudes towards corruption, business JEL: C01, D73, H83 1 Introduction Transparency International defines corruption as “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain” (Transparency International, 2023). Similarly, corrup- tion can be defined as a leakage of resources that should be used to fulfil so- cial goals (Langseth, 2006). Corruption, that results in the abuse of entrusted power, can manifest itself in the acceptance, giving, demanding, or offering of bribes, valuable gifts, the granting or receiving of important favours, and other behaviours. Even from this brief explanation, we can deduce that corruption Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 31 Business’ Attitudes Towards Corruption in Selected Central European Countries is a situation in which someone who has been entrusted with power to serve a public interest uses that power for their own benefit. Transparency Interna- tional goes on to explain that corruption in general, and political corruption in particular, “undermines good government, fundamentally distorts public poli- cy, leads to the misallocation of resources, harms the private sector and private sector development, and particularly hurts the poor” (Kusek and Rist, 2004). Thus, when we talk about corruption, we usually focus on the misconduct of politicians, public officials, and public employees. The social costs of corrup- tion damage good governance (Scott, 1972), affect economic growth (Mauro 1995), investment (Mauro, 1997), gross domestic product (Manchanda, 2019), the level of public services delivered (Pellegata, 2012 and Brown et al., 2011), but also public trust in (local) government (Zhang et al., 2019), increases in the costs of private and public activities (Hakimi and Hamdi, 2017), and increases in managerial uncertainty. Since corruption is illegal, it is not easy to detect and very difficult to meas- ure. Even comparing collected data on the incidence of reported crimes can be problematic, as bribery and other forms of corruption may be viewed and handled differently in different countries (Lambsdorff, 2006). In addition, the persistence of corruption can be explained by the fact that it is difficult for citizens to observe it, which in turn makes it difficult to implement monitoring systems and create incentives for politicians to curb corruption (Olken, 2009). Moreover, some actions may be considered corruption in one country while ac- ceptable behaviour in another (Chabova, 2017), making it difficult not only to measure but also to fundamentally understand corruption. Tolerance for cor- ruption also varies from country to country, as well as from population group to population group (Gouvêa Maciel, 2021). Even when citizens are aware of the extent of corruption but do not know who is corrupt and who is honest, politicians’ enthusiasm to make actual efforts to curb corruption may be low. However, because corruption is so difficult to measure and the actual level of corruption cannot be determined directly, the perception of corruption may be the only way to estimate actual corruption (Lambsdorff, 2006). Because measurement could only capture reported corruption, some of the most prominent international organisations (e.g., Transparency International and the World Bank) measure perceptions of corruption rather than the extent of corruption itself. This indirect way of measuring corruption allows us to overcome the difficulties of measuring corruption, but may raise questions about the relationship between perceptions and actual corruption. For ex- ample, Donchev and Ujhelyi (2014) warned that perceived corruption is sub- ject to bias and may be problematic, and called for better measures of actual corruption. François et al. (2023) could not confirm the relationship between perceived and actual corruption, but found a relationship between municipal- ity size and perceived corruption in France. Corrado et al. (2021) published the results of an experiment that showed that corruption perceptions are strongly influenced by available information and that actors who do not have information about bribery attempts are more likely to offer bribes. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202332 Nenad Vretenar, Ana Marija Filipas, Martina Briš Alić Some research (Melgar et al., 2010) suggests that perceptions of corruption can do more harm than corruption itself by generating mistrust. However, the correlation between perception and actual corruption has been confirmed in some academic works (Charron, 2016; Villoria and Jimenez, 2012), as well as the reluctance of citizens to report corruption when corruption perception is high (Manzin et al., 2015). Moreover, both actual and perceived corruption are influenced by freedom of the press (Breen and Gilanders, 2020), where press reports of corruption cases can reinforce perceptions of corruption, while reporting of routine anti-corruption efforts leads to positive percep- tions of efforts to reduce corruption (Sun et al., 2022). However, when free journalism is threatened by political, legal, and economic constraints, percep- tions of corruption increase (Corrado et al., 2023). This is also true in reverse: when transparency is high, perceptions of corruption decrease (de Oliveira Santos et al., 2019). Therefore, the most important prerequisite for reducing corruption is to increase the level of transparency. In her review of available surveys to measure corruption in the EU (including Eurobarometer), Chabova (2017) argues that, in addition to the well- known drawbacks of using public perceptions of corruption as a metric, the use of common public pools helps avoid the free-rider problem because: the general public expresses its opinion free of assumptions that might constrain expert responses. There is also the possibility of conducting micro-analyzes; and be- cause there is a strong correlation of these pools across years and countries, they can be considered reliable. That public opinion about corruption is rel- evant is also confirmed by recent research (Shiroka-Pula et al., 2023), which has shown that greater trust in local and national institutions, i.e., less asym- metry between formal and informal institutions, is associated with higher well-being. As analyzed by Van de Walle & Migchelbrink (2020) using a logistic regression on regional Eurobarometer data, perceived corruption is also one of the most important variables for trust in public administration, together with public sector outcomes. Transparency “enables organization insiders and outsiders to obtain accu- rate information about organizational activities” (Ingrams, 2016). Increased transparency therefore leads to easier detection of corruption and vice versa. However, although most economies, under internal and external pressure, are trying to increase transparency to curb corruption, there is a gap between de jure transparency and actual or de facto transparency. De jure transpar- ency, or legal transparency, is measured by the existence of laws and other in- stitutional measures that ensure free access to information (Mungiu-Pippidi, 2023). De facto transparency is actual transparency and represents “informal rules of game” (Mungiu-Pippidi, 2023). The European Research Centre for Anti-Corruption and State-building (ER- CAS) has created a transparency index that is the sum of de jure and de fac- to transparency. The de jure index examines legal transparency (a country’s transparency laws), while the de facto index evaluates 14 major websites on the extent and accessibility of data. The 14 websites were selected based Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 33 Business’ Attitudes Towards Corruption in Selected Central European Countries on the transparency categories described in the United Nations Convention against Corruption and the Sustainable Development Goal 16. According to recently published research (Jeong et al., 2023), corruption occurs when the gap between de jure and de facto transparency is large. This interesting find- ing prompted us to investigate the possible differences in the perception of corruption in Central European countries. For the analysis, we selected six countries that have significant parts of their historical, cultural and political background in common. Another main argument for the selection of coun- tries is the discrepancy between de facto and de jure transparency, as we se- lected three countries where this discrepancy is larger and three countries where it is smaller. We took the absolute values of the difference between these two index numbers, regardless of which index is higher and which is lower. Moreover, we did not focus on identifying the differences in corrup- tion perceptions between countries with higher and those with lower trans- parency, but rather on the countries with a higher or lower discrepancy be- tween de facto and de jure indicators, as calculated by ERCAS and presented on its website (corruptionrisk.org). The survey, “Businesses’ attitudes towards corruption in the EU”, was com- missioned by the European Commission and last conducted in April 2022. The survey involved 12,790 telephone interviews with company representatives who are decision-makers in the business. We believe that the fact that only company representatives with decision-making responsibility, rather than the general public, were included in the survey is significant both for methodo- logical reasons and in terms of the relative importance of the conclusions. The survey report shows that 34% of companies in the EU consider corruption to be a problem when doing business in their country, although the extent var- ies widely across Member States. For example, 70% of companies in Romania consider corruption a problem, but only 7% in Denmark. In Croatia, 64% of companies consider corruption to be a serious problem in their business activ- ities, while 50% in Slovakia, 45% in Hungary, 38% in Slovenia, 34% in Czechia and only 19% in Poland share this view. The most common type of corruption, also at the EU level, is favouring friends and family members in companies and public institutions, then funding political parties in order to obtain lucrative contracts later on, and finally offering gifts, trips, kickbacks and bribes (Busi- nesses’ attitudes towards corruption in the EU, Report, 2022). The main aim of this research is to find out what are the most important fac- tors influencing business people’s attitudes towards corruption in Central Eu- ropean countries. Based on this idea, we decided to use logistic regression to show which are the key variables leading to the perception of corruption, using the analytical data from the Eurobarometer survey. However, to inves- tigate whether the difference between de facto and de jure transparency makes a difference, we used the same methodology and variables to build separate models for two groups of selected countries. Therefore, the second aim of this research was to find out whether there are significant differences in corruption perceptions between peer countries grouped according to the criterion of the difference between de jure and de facto transparency. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202334 Nenad Vretenar, Ana Marija Filipas, Martina Briš Alić 2 Analysis of the prior research With the aim of reviewing previous research on corruption, we searched the Web of Science Core Collection database as the most important scientific da- tabase in the world. Considering that the WoS CC database contains 37,462 papers on the topic of “corruption”, we decided to limit our search to papers that combine the term “corruption” with the term “logistic regression” and came across 125 papers. Most of these contributions are from the following areas: Economics - 20, Management - 16, Political Science - 14, Health Policy - 11, Security Systems 6, Law - 5. Less than 5 contributions are from the other fields (Figure 1). For further analysis of these 125 contributions we used the software package VOSviewer. As shown in Figure 2, most papers on corrup- tion using logistic regression were published in the last 10 years, with a no- ticeable jump in 2018. In the years from 1999 to 2012, only a very modest number of research papers were published on this topic. Figure 1. Representation of the papers in relation to the area. Source: Authors using WoS CC database Figure 2. Number of published papers by year Source: Authors using WoS CC database Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 35 Business’ Attitudes Towards Corruption in Selected Central European Countries To identify the most productive authors in the field studied, as well as the most productive countries, both in terms of the number of published and the citation of papers from each country, we performed a co-authorship analysis (unit of analysis: authors and countries) and a citation analysis (unit of analy- sis: countries). A total of 362 authors were included in the analysis. The most prolific author in this analysis is Colin C. Williams with 4 publications that met our criteria. Three of the authors included in this analysis have published 3 papers in the WoS CC (Horodnic, Sadigov, and Suresh) and 12 authors have published 2 pa- pers (Table 1). Table 1. The most productive authors Author Documents Author Documents Williams, Colin C. 4 CROATIA Horodnic, Adrian Vasile 3 Cajner Mraovic, Irena 1 Sadigov, Turkhan 3 Modrusan, Nikola 1 Suresh, Ajith 3 Pavlovic Vinogradac, Valentina 1 Ayat, Muhammad 2 Rabuzin, Kornelije 1 Balabanova, Dina 2 CZECHIA Breuer, Christoph 2 Plaček, Michal 2 Chaudhari, Harsh 2 Gillernová, Ilona 1 Horodnic, Ioana Alexandra 2 Ochrana, Frantisek 1 Hutchinson, Eleanor 2 Schmidt, Martin 1 Kang, Changwook 2 Soukopova, Jana 1 Kuang, Xiaoxue 2 Vacekova, Gabriela 1 Mckee, Martin 2 Výrost, Jozef 1 Patra, Arpita 2 HUNGARY Plaček, Michal 2 Baji, Petra 1 Yang, Qi 2 Gulácsi, Laszlo 1 Santoso, Cornelia 1 SLOVAKIA Falat, Lukas 1 Holkova, Beata 1 Malichova, Eva 1 Pancikova, Lucia 1 Výrost, Jozef 1 Source: Authors using WoS CC database Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202336 Nenad Vretenar, Ana Marija Filipas, Martina Briš Alić We thought it is important to note how many of the analysed papers were written by authors from the countries considered in the empirical part of the present work. Papers by Croatian, Czech, Hungarian and Slovak authors were found, which is also indicated in Table 1. One of the authors from the selected countries published two papers, while one author is associated with institu- tions in both Czechia and Slovakia. In addition, there were no papers by au- thors from Slovenia and Poland in this analysis. Figure 3 shows the most productive countries in terms of the number of pub- lications included in the study. The authors of the papers studied come from 56 countries. The most productive country is the United States of America (USA) with 32 published papers, followed by England with 14 published pa- pers and the Republic of China with 11 published papers. Other countries that are the subject of this study have less than 10 publications. Figure 3. The most productive countries Source: Authors As expected, the United States of America ranks first with 1,073 citations, while England, which ranks second in the number of published works, ranks fourth in the number of citations (319 citations). India and Australia follow in second and third place, with 438 and 436 citations, respectively. The Republic of China, which ranks third in the number of published papers, ranks sixth in the number of citations (246 citations). Wales ranks fifth in the number of citations (310), while papers by authors from other countries have fewer than 100 citations. Looking at the countries analysed in the empirical part of this paper, it is inter- esting to note that Czechia has three publications, while Hungary, Croatia and Slovakia have two publications. No work from Poland and Slovenia met the criteria to be included in the analysis. Looking at the mentioned papers by the number of citations, the papers of Hungarian authors were cited the most, 34 times. The works of Czech authors were cited 10 times, those of Croatian authors 8 times, while the works of Slovak authors were not cited. At the end of this bibliometric analysis, we will shortly present the main top- ics of the papers published by authors from the countries we analysed in our research. A paper published by Rabuzin and Modrušan (2019) presents results in using machine learning methods to detect fraud in public procurement. Public procurement, its efficiency and the occurrence of corruption are also the focus of papers published by Plaček (2017) and Plaček et al. (2019). Schol- ars’ interest in corruption in public procurement is understandable, as public procurement mechanisms in the EU were created to prevent corruption in local government. However, apart from the fact that corrupt officials still try Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 37 Business’ Attitudes Towards Corruption in Selected Central European Countries to circumvent the restrictions, there are concerns that public procurement leads to centralization of decision-making at a higher level of administration, which could mean that corruption takes place up the ladder (Kaštelan Mrak et al., 2016). The study published by Kutnjak Ivkovich et al. (2022) focuses on corruption within the police and examines the factors that influence the will- ingness to report police misconduct. Perceptions of corruption were one of four social factors that predicted glob- al life satisfaction in a psychological study (Výrost and Gillernová, 2015). Re- search from Hungary (Baji et al., 2015) noted a mostly positive attitude toward informal payments (bribes) made by patients to health professionals on the grounds that they are not adequately paid by the health care system. Rajan et al. (2022) addressed the problem of informal payments in 34 African countries. Their data showed that men were more likely to bribe medical personnel than women, regardless of age, education, occupation, and social status. Holkova et al. (2023) examined factors influencing the tendency to evade taxes and emphasised the close relationship between tax evasion and corruption. 3 Data, sample and methodology Following the study of Jeong et al. (2023) which found that one of the main reasons for the persistence of corruption in a given country is the gap between de jure and de facto transparency, we decided to conduct our research for the countries that have the smallest and the largest difference between these two indicators. As shown in Table 2, in our study we included the three coun- tries with the smallest difference between de jure and de facto transparency: Hungary, Czechia and Poland, and three countries with the largest difference between de jure and de facto transparency: Croatia, Slovakia, and Slovenia. From the table it can be seen that Estonia has the same difference as Cro- atia and Slovakia and could also be included in a model. However, besides our goal to balance the number of countries in the included country groups, we decided to include countries that have a common historical, cultural and geographical origin. Therefore, we chose to include nearby countries and all Slavic countries except Hungary. Although Hungary is not Slavic, it has many historical similarities with other countries and is a neighbouring country to three other countries in our analysis. Logistic regression looks for an equation that predicts an outcome for a bina- ry variable based on one or more response variables. Unlike linear regression, the response variables need to be categorical, as the model does not strictly require continuous data. To predict group membership, logistic regression uses the log odds ratio instead of probabilities and an iterative maximum like- lihood method instead of least squares to create the final model (Kleinbaum and Klein, 2010). Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202338 Nenad Vretenar, Ana Marija Filipas, Martina Briš Alić Table 2. De jure and de facto transparency, Central and Eastern EU countries Country De jure transparency De facto transparency Difference between de jure and de facto transparency (|de jure transparency – de facto transparency|) Bulgaria 6.00 11.00 5.00 Croatia 6.00 13.00 7.00 Czechia 6.00 9.50 3.50 Estonia 6.00 13.00 7.00 Hungary 5.00 8.00 3.00 Latvia 6.00 11.50 5.50 Lithuania 6.00 12.50 6.50 Poland 9.00 5.00 4.00 Romania 6.00 12.00 6.00 Slovakia 6.00 13.00 7.00 Slovenia 5.00 12.50 7.50 Source: Authors using European research centre for anti-corruption and state- building, ERCAS (2022) The data used in this article come from a Eurobarometer survey conducted via telephone interviews in 2022, the aim of which was to investigate the level of corruption as perceived and experienced by companies with one or more employees in six key sectors: Financial Services, Banking and Investment; Con- struction and Building; Energy, Mining, Oil and Gas, Chemicals; Engineering and Electronics, Motor Vehicles; Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals; Telecom- munications and Information Technology. Table 3 provides an overview of the characteristics of the sample in each of the countries for which we conducted the analysis and provides information on the companies for which respond- ents work: industry sector to which the company belongs, how many employ- ees the company has, and how long the company has been in business. In addition to the characteristics of their company, respondents were re- quired to answer a series of questions related to: business difficulties, per- ceptions of corruption in their country, the prevalence of activities that lead to corruption. They were also asked to assess the occurrence of corrupt prac- tices in public tendering and procurement procedures and how corruption is investigated, prosecuted, and punished in their country. The variables used in the analysis, as well as their notation, operationalization, and scale, can be found in Table 4. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 39 Business’ Attitudes Towards Corruption in Selected Central European Countries Table 3. Sample characteristics overview Sample characteristics Croatia Czechia Hungary Poland Slovakia Slovenia Sector of activity (SA) Financial services, banking and investment 8.7% 8.7% 17.3% 16.7% 17.6% 16.9% Construction and building 21.7% 18.7% 18.3% 16.3% 18.3% 17.3% Energy, mining, oil and gas, chemicals 13.7% 17.3% 14.0% 16.7% 7.6% 17.3% Engineering and electronics, motor vehicles 21.7% 19.3% 17.9% 16.7% 19.3% 17.6% Healthcare and pharmaceutical 19.0% 18.0% 15.9% 17.0% 18.3% 17.3% Telecommunications and Information technologies 15.3% 18.0% 16.6% 16.7% 18.9% 13.6% Number of employees (NUME) 1 to 9 employees 45.0% 57.7% 56.5% 63.3% 72.1% 36.5% 10 to 49 employees 33.3% 24.3% 31.9% 17.0% 19.9% 30.9% 50 to 249 employees 17.0% 12.0% 9.0% 16.0% 4.7% 23.9% 250 employees or more 4.7% 6.0% 2.7% 3.7% 1.3% 8.3% Don’t know 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 2.0% 0.3% Company business duration (CBD) Less than 1 year 10.3% 14.0% 0.3% 0.7% 14.6% 0.3% 1 - 5 years 13.3% 13.3% 6.3% 10.3% 20.9% 10.3% 6 - 10 years 75.7% 71.7% 19.6% 13.3% 63.8% 15.0% 11 years or more 0.7% 1.0% 73.8% 75.0% 0.7% 73.1% Don’t know 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.7% 0.0% 1.3% Source: Authors using Eurobarometer survey Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202340 Nenad Vretenar, Ana Marija Filipas, Martina Briš Alić Table 4. Variables operationalisation Variable Notation Operationalisation Scale Do you consider the following to be a problem or not for your company? - Patronage and nepotism PAN 1 = not a serious problem; 2 = a serious problem; 3 = don’t know Categorical Do you consider the following to be a problem or not for your company? - Complexity of administrative procedures APC 1 = not a serious problem; 2 = a serious problem; 3 = don’t know Categorical Do you consider the following to be a problem or not for your company? - Fast-changing legislation and policies LPC 1 = not a serious problem; 2 = a serious problem; 3 = don’t know Categorical Do you consider the following to be a problem or not for your company? - Inadequate infrastructure in your country IINF 1 = not a serious problem; 2 = a serious problem; 3 = don’t know Categorical Do you consider the following to be a problem or not for your company? - Lack of means or procedures to recover debt from others DRD 1 = not a serious problem; 2 = a serious problem; 3 = don’t know Categorical Do you consider the following to be a problem or not for your company? - Restrictive labour regulations RLR 1 = not a serious problem; 2 = a serious problem; 3 = don’t know Categorical Do you consider the following to be a problem or not for your company? - Tax rates TR 1 = not a serious problem; 2 = a serious problem; 3 = don’t know Categorical Do you consider the following to be a problem or not for your company? - Access to financing, including credits AFC 1 = not a serious problem; 2 = a serious problem; 3 = don’t know Categorical In the past three years, has your company taken part in a public tender or a public procurement procedure? PPP 1 = no; 2 = yes; 3 = don’t know Categorical If a public official receives money, a gift or a service from someone, what would be the minimum value at which you would consider this to be a bribe? BCL 1 = 0 euros (any gift is a bribe); 2 = 1 - 1000 euros; 3 = 1001+ euros; 4 = don’t know Categorical Do you agree or disagree that there is sufficient transparency and supervision of the funding of political parties in your country? STS 1 = disagree; 2 = agree; 3 = don’t know Categorical Do you agree or disagree that too close links between business and politics in your country lead to corruption? BPL 1 = disagree; 2 = agree; 3 = don’t know Categorical Do you agree or disagree that people and businesses caught for petty corruption are appropriately punished in your country? AP 1 = disagree; 2 = agree; 3 = don’t know Categorical Do you agree or disagree that people and businesses caught for bribing a senior official are appropriately punished in your country? BSO 1 = disagree; 2 = agree; 3 = don’t know Categorical How likely do you think that people or businesses engaging in corrupt practices will get caught by or reported to the police or prosecutors generally? RPP 1 = very or fairly unlikely; 2 = very or fairly likely; 3 = don’t know Categorical How widespread do you think the following practices are generally? - Corruption in public procurement managed by national authorities NAC 1 = very or fairly rare; 2 = very or fairly widespread; 3 = don’t know Categorical Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 41 Business’ Attitudes Towards Corruption in Selected Central European Countries How widespread do you think the following practices are generally? - Corruption in public procurement managed by regional or local authorities RLAC 1 = very or fairly rare; 2 = very or fairly widespread; 3 = don’t know Categorical How widespread do you think the problem of corruption is in your country? CW 0 = very or fairly rare; 1 = very or fairly widespread Dummy Source: Authors using Eurobarometer survey Combining the data from Hungary, Czechia, and Poland (i.e. countries with smallest differences between de jure and the facto transparency) with the total of 901 observations enabled us to create the first logistic regression model (referred to as Model 1 in the sequel). Second logistic regression model (referred to as Model 2 in the sequel) was created from the data from Croatia, Slovakia, and Slovenia (i.e. countries with largest differences between de jure and the facto transparency) with a total of 902 observations. We aimed to find out what influences the respondents’ opinion on corruption widespread in their country. With that purpose, two separate binary logistic regression models with the dependent variable CW were build, respectively: = 1 = + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + , where p denotes the probability that = + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + will take the value 1. The empirical analysis presented in the next section was performed using Stata 17.0 MP-Parallel Edition. As it can be seen from Table 5, CW is a dummy variable indicating respondents’ general perception of the prevalence of the corruption problem in their country. 4 Empirical results and analysis The variable CW was used as the dependent variable, whereas the variable representing the field of activity in which the respondent is employed (SA), described in Table 4, and all other categorical variables, described in Table 5, were used as independent variables to build binary logistic regression models in this research. The fit indices for each of the constructed models can be seen in Table 5, which provides insight into the likelihood ratio test statistics, the p-values associated with the likelihood ratio test statistics, deviances, the McFadden and Cragg-Uhler (Nagelkerke) pseudo-R2 values, the AIC and BIC values, and the values of the correctly classified instances. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202342 Nenad Vretenar, Ana Marija Filipas, Martina Briš Alić Table 5. Fit indices for each of the constructed logistic regression models - Model 1 and Model 2 Model 1 – Czechia, Hungary and Poland Model 2 – Croatia, Slovakia and Slovenia Number of observations 901 902 LR χ2(40) / LR χ2(40) 299.550 553.140 Prob > χ2 0.000 0.000 Deviance 845.590 551.224 McFadden R2 0.262 0.501 Cragg-Uhler (Nagelkerke) R2 0.393 0.649 AIC 1.069 0.742 BIC -4882.962 -5185.066 Correctly classified 77.47% 87.14% Source: Authors The likelihood ratio chi-square of 299.550 (LR χ2(40) = 299.550), with a p- value of 0.000 (Prob > χ2 =0.000) for the first model, and the likelihood ratio chi-square of 553.140 (LR χ2(40) = 553.140), with a p-value of 0.000 (Prob > χ2 =0.000) for the second model suggest that constructed binary logistic regression models fit our data significantly better than models containing only constants (Chen et al., 2020). In addition, the Pearson test values of the postestimation goodness of fit (χ2(838) = 912.46, p > χ2 = 0.0961 for the first model and χ2(838) = 870.55, p > χ2 = 0.2115 for the second model), as well as the Hosmer-Lemeshow test values of the postestimation goodness of fit test (χ2(8) = 4.98, p > χ2 = 0.7598 for the first model and χ2(838) = 7.42, p > χ2 = 0.4923 for the second model) indicate that the constructed models are well fitted to our data (Hosmer et al., 2013). The same is confirmed by the McFadden and Cragg and Uhler pseudo-R2 (McFadden R2=0.262, Cragg- Uhler (Nagelkerke) R2 = 0.393 for the first model and McFadden R2=0.501, Cragg-Uhler (Nagelkerke) R2 = 0.649 for the second model) (McFadden, 1974; Cragg and Uhler, 1970). The results for each of the two constructed models are shown in Table 6, which reports the coefficients, standard errors, and as- sociated p-values. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 43 Business’ Attitudes Towards Corruption in Selected Central European Countries Table 6. Logistic regression results - Model 1 and Model 2 Model 1 Model 2 exp(ß) se (exp(ß)) sig. exp(ß) se (exp(ß)) sig. SA Construction and building 0.876 0.284 0.684 0.980 0.403 0.961 Energy, mining, oil and gas, chemicals 0.673 0.214 0.213 1.218 0.531 0.650 Engineering and electronics, motor vehicles 0.761 0.239 0.384 0.812 0.315 0.592 Healthcare and pharmaceutical 0.833 0.261 0.560 0.908 0.365 0.810 Telecommunications and Information technologies 0.741 0.239 0.352 0.437 0.183 0.048** PAN a serious problem 1.961 0.421 0.002*** 3.419 1.089 0.000*** don’t know 0.954 0.496 0.928 7.826 6.203 0.009*** APC a serious problem 0.991 0.206 0.965 0.802 0.216 0.411 don’t know 4.383 3.537 0.067* 0.778 0.708 0.782 LPC a serious problem 1.047 0.224 0.829 1.948 0.523 0.013** don’t know 0.331 0.242 0.130 0.709 0.915 0.790 IINF a serious problem 1.457 0.283 0.052* 0.857 0.224 0.556 don’t know 1.324 0.675 0.583 5.735 4.706 0.033** DRD a serious problem 1.191 0.240 0.385 2.104 0.584 0.007*** don’t know 1.033 0.463 0.942 1.198 0.702 0.757 RLR a serious problem 0.851 0.169 0.418 0.859 0.253 0.606 don’t know 1.869 0.993 0.239 1.768 0.941 0.285 TR a serious problem 1.431 0.273 0.060* 1.531 0.388 0.092* don’t know 2.543 1.524 0.119 0.769 0.452 0.655 Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202344 Nenad Vretenar, Ana Marija Filipas, Martina Briš Alić AFC a serious problem 1.394 0.321 0.149 1.059 0.315 0.845 don’t know 0.452 0.181 0.047** 0.824 0.460 0.728 PPP yes 1.336 0.265 0.144 1.454 0.361 0.131 don’t know 2.989 1.824 0.073* 0.439 0.365 0.322 BCL 1 - 1000 euros 1.375 0.303 0.148 0.924 0.296 0.805 1001+ euros 2.251 1.462 0.212 0.191 0.136 0.020** don’t know 0.747 0.181 0.227 1.431 0.545 0.348 STS agree 1.183 0.264 0.451 0.565 0.152 0.034** don’t know 1.224 0.372 0.507 0.471 0.167 0.034** BPL agree 1.920 0.482 0.009*** 3.292 0.896 0.000*** don’t know 1.186 0.479 0.673 2.326 1.286 0.127 AP agree 0.861 0.177 0.467 1.112 0.299 0.692 don’t know 0.838 0.245 0.545 1.016 0.453 0.971 BSO agree 0.668 0.151 0.075* 0.492 0.141 0.014** don’t know 0.829 0.257 0.545 0.599 0.279 0.272 RPP very or fairly likely 0.643 0.128 0.026** 1.168 0.281 0.519 don’t know 0.815 0.275 0.544 0.711 0.433 0.576 NAC very or fairly likely 2.887 0.734 0.000*** 6.666 2.284 0.000*** don’t know 0.940 0.333 0.862 3.593 1.871 0.014** RLAC very or fairly likely 4.548 1.149 0.000*** 3.656 1.169 0.000*** don’t know 2.982 1.059 0.002*** 1.264 0.669 0.659 Constant 0.282 0.117 0.002 0.137 0.063 0.000 * p<0.1. ** p<0.05. *** p<0.01 Source: Authors Because we used two models in our analysis (Model 1 and Model 2), with each model comprising three different countries grouped according to their differ- Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 45 Business’ Attitudes Towards Corruption in Selected Central European Countries ences in de jure and de facto transparency, the technical interpretation of the results presented is also divided. 4.1 Model 1 (Hungary, Czechia and Poland) findings If a respondent believes that there is a serious problem with patronage and nepotism for his or her company, the odds increase by 96.13% that the re- spondent will answer that corruption is widespread in his or her country. Also, if the respondent is not sure whether the complexity of administrative procedures is a serious problem for his or her company, the odds increase by 338.33% that he or she will answer that corruption is widespread. For a question related to the adequacy of infrastructure in a country, the odds that the respondent perceives corruption to be widespread increase by 45.70% for respondents who perceive infrastructure to be inadequate. Similarly, the odds that the respondent who perceives tax rates as a problem for his or her business perceives corruption as widespread increase by 43.14%. Interestingly, the odds that the respondent answers that corruption is wide- spread in his or her country decreases by 54.80% if he or she is not sure whether there is a serious problem in access to finance (including credit) for his or her company. On the other hand, if the respondent is not sure whether his or her company has participated in a public tender or public procurement procedure in the last three years, the odds increase by 198.92% that the re- spondent answers that corruption is widespread in his or her country. The odds for respondents who claimed that too close ties between business and politics lead to corruption in their country increase by 92.00% to answer that corruption is widespread. The odds for respondents who believe that individuals and companies caught bribing a senior official are appropriately punished decrease by 33.18% to answer that corruption is widespread in their country. In addition, the odds that corruption is widespread in a country de- creases by 35.70% for respondents who believe that individuals or companies who engage in corrupt practices will be caught. The results of the link between corruption and public procurement manage- ment are also very interesting. If the respondent believes that corruption in public procurement is generally managed by national authorities, the odds increase by 188.69% that the respondent answers that corruption is wide- spread in his or her country. If the respondent believes that corruption in public procurement is generally managed by regional or local authorities, the odds increase by 354.81% that the respondent answers that corruption is widespread. Even if the respondent is not sure whether there is corruption in public procurement that is managed by regional or local authorities, the odds increase by 198.80% that the respondent answers that corruption is wide- spread in his or her country. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202346 Nenad Vretenar, Ana Marija Filipas, Martina Briš Alić 4.2 Model 2 (Croatia, Slovakia and Slovenia) findings If a respondent believes that there is a serious problem with patronage and nepotism for his or her company, the odds increase by 241.89% that the re- spondent will answer that corruption is widespread in his or her country. Curi- ously, the perception of widespread corruption is even more likely (682.61% increase in odds) for respondents who are not sure whether there is a serious problem with patronage and nepotism for their company. Somewhat more understandably, in this model, if respondents believe that rapidly changing legislation and policies are a serious problem for their company, this increas- es the odds by 94.82% that they think that corruption is widespread in their country. If respondents were not sure if the infrastructure in their country is inadequate, this increases the odds by 473.46% that they believe corruption is widespread in their country. If the company’s ability (in terms of means or procedures) to collect debts from others is perceived as a serious problem, the odds that the respondent perceives corruption as widespread increase by 110.38%. Similar to Model 1, the odds that those respondents who perceive tax rates as a problem for their business consider corruption to be widespread increases by 53.12%. This model also shows an interesting difference between respondents who value differently the value of the gift or bribe received, which they see as a problem. Odds for those who consider only gifts or bribes worth more than 1,000 euros to be a serious problem consider corruption to be widespread in their country decreases by 80.92% compared to those who have a low toler- ance for bribes and consider the acceptance of gifts or bribes of any kind to be a problem. If a respondent agrees that there is sufficient transparency and oversight of political party funding in his or her country, the odds that the respondent an- swers that corruption is widespread decrease by 43.50%. Even if a respond- ent is not sure that there is sufficient transparency and monitoring of political party funding, the odds that the respondent answers that corruption is wide- spread in their country decreases by 52.88%. If a respondent agrees that too close ties between business and politics lead to corruption, the odds increase by 229.18% that the respondent answers that corruption is widespread in their country. If a respondent agrees that individuals and companies caught bribing a senior official are appropriately punished in their country, the odds decrease by 50.76% that the respondent answers that corruption is widespread. If the respondent believes that corruption in public procurement is generally managed by national authorities, the odds increase by 566.58% that the re- spondent answers that corruption is widespread in his or her country. Even if the respondent is not sure whether corruption in public procurement is gen- erally managed by national authorities, the odds increase by 259.31% that the respondent answers that corruption is widespread. If the respondent is of the opinion that corruption in public procurement is generally managed by Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 47 Business’ Attitudes Towards Corruption in Selected Central European Countries regional or local authorities, the odds increase by 265.50% that the respond- ent answers that corruption is widespread in his country. The last significant finding in Model 2 is industry related. If a respondent works in the Telecommunications and Information Technologies sector, the odds of answering that corruption is widespread in their country decrease by 56.33% compared to respondents working in the Financial Services, Banking and Investment sector. 5 Discussion and conclusion Combining countries into two groups based on their differences in de facto and de jure transparency allowed us to build two logistic regression models and analyse what factors influence general attitudes toward corruption in each group, but also to observe differences between groups of countries that have many connections and similarities in their historical, political, cultural, and geographic characteristics. The group consisting of Hungary, Czechia and Poland had the smallest difference between de jure and de facto transpar- ency, but interestingly, their combined overall transparency level (sum of de jure and de facto transparency index) is lower than that of the countries in the other group. The key findings for this group of countries are that respondents who consider the infrastructure in their countries to be inadequate and think that this is a problem for their businesses tend to perceive corruption to be widespread in their country. In addition, the attitude that corruption is wide- spread in their country is much more likely among respondents who are not sure whether their companies have problems in dealing with administrative procedures. The same is true for respondents who are not sure whether their companies have difficulties obtaining funding for their activities. The other group of countries consisted of Croatia, Slovakia and Slovenia, as they show the largest differences between de jure and de facto transpar- ency, although their overall level of transparency is higher than that of the countries in the first group. In this group, we were able to identify sectoral differences in attitudes toward corruption, as respondents from the financial sector were significantly more likely to indicate that corruption is widespread in their country than their counterparts from the telecommunications sector. The negative impact of frequent legislative changes is also significant in this group, as respondents who believe that frequent legislative and regulatory changes are a problem for businesses in their countries are also much more likely to believe that corruption is widespread. Moreover, respondents from companies that have problems with debt collection are also among those more likely to perceive the prevalence of corruption as a major problem. And not surprisingly, the perception that corruption is widespread is more likely among respondents who consider gifts or bribes of any value to be corrup- tion, while those who only have problems with gifts and bribes exceeding 1000 euros are more relaxed in this regard. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202348 Nenad Vretenar, Ana Marija Filipas, Martina Briš Alić In both groups, respondents who think clientelism and nepotism are a prob- lem in their companies are much more likely to think that corruption is high in their country overall. This result was to be expected, as it is a clear exposure effect due to familiarity with the phenomenon. It is interesting to note, how- ever, that those who believe that nepotism is widespread in their company, and thus in their country, are much more likely to be among respondents in Model 2 countries. Another general finding is that respondents who believe that tax rates are a problem for their companies are also more likely to believe that corruption is widespread. The next general finding is related to public procurement, as perceptions of widespread corruption are more likely for re- spondents who believe that local or national authorities are involved in cor- ruption in public procurement processes. Perhaps this finding is partly related to the finding that perceptions of widespread corruption are also more likely for those who claim that there is an unhealthy link between politics and busi- ness in their country. The final general finding we want to highlight is that respondents who believe that in their country those caught in corruption are appropriately punished are less likely to perceive corruption as widespread. As already noted, among the main limitations to using perception as a means of assessing corruption are various biases that might influence that percep- tion. However, because the survey Businesses’ attitudes towards corruption in the EU included only the decision makers of the companies included, we consider the results based on their opinions to be much more relevant to as- sess to business climate than the results of surveys in which the respondents would be drawn from the general public. The insights from our analysis might be useful in understanding how corporate attitudes toward corruption are shaped and what variables are associated with the perception that there is a lot of corruption in the country. But beyond that, these results could also provide a better understanding of where corruption is a problem that affects companies’ chances of success. This conclusion can be drawn from the obser- vation that the significance of many variables in both models used shows that the perception that corruption is widespread is more likely when respond- ents emphasise their company’s problems in a particular area. That is, if their company faces problems with public procurement, frequent changes in regu- lations, complicated administrative requirements, or perceives the relation- ship between politics and business to be unreasonably close, respondents will perceive the level of corruption to be high. Keeping in mind that the percep- tion of corruption is only an approximation of the assessment of corruption and does not mean that corruption actually exists, it is nevertheless possible to conclude that respondents whose companies face some of the problems mentioned are more likely to “shout” corruption. Developing two models based on the differences between de jure and de facto transparency was inspired by findings that this difference, when large, favours the occurrence of corruption (Jeong et al., 2023). However, as the goal was to analyse the factors associated with general attitudes toward the corruption, we used the difference between de facto and de jure transparency only as a criterion for grouping selected Central European countries. This approach Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 49 Business’ Attitudes Towards Corruption in Selected Central European Countries proved fruitful, as both models showed high predictive accuracy and we were therefore able to draw some general conclusions for all selected countries, but also to find some differences between the groups. Our results contribute to the body of knowledge about perceptions of and attitudes toward corrup- tion in various fields such as economics and sociology. But they are also a con- tribution for scholars and professionals in the fields of public administration and law. 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Governance Models in Local Administration Stefanie Vedder University of Kassel, Germany stefanie.vedder@uni-kassel.de https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8301-8262 Benjamin Friedländer University of Leipzig, Germany friedlaender@wifa.uni-leipzig.de https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9496-5764 Simon Bogumil-Uçan Helmut Schmidt University Hamburg/University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg, Germany simon.bogumil@hsu-hh.de https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2071-839X Tanja Klenk Helmut Schmidt University Hamburg/University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg, Germany tanja.klenk@hsu-hh.de https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2569-3221 Received: 11. 9. 2023 Revised: 25. 10. 2023 Accepted: 21. 11. 2023 Published: 30. 11. 2023 ABSTRACT Purpose: Over the past decades, public administration scholars and prac- titioners around the world have experimented with various administra- tive reforms to design governance models suitable to fulfil the tasks of public administration. Amidst this ongoing debate, (at least) three dif- ferent and competing governance models can be distinguished: New Public Management, New Public Governance, and the (Neo) Weberian model. Despite each of these models claiming universal legitimacy, spe- cific administrative branches in different administrative systems operate in unique contexts and handle varying tasks. The article delves into the question of whether and to what extent different branches of public ad- ministration within the same administrative system adopt global public administration ideas in a similar fashion. Vedder, S., Friedländer, B., Bogumil-Uçan, S., Klenk, T. (2023). Does Context Matter? Governance Models in Local Administration. Central European Public Administration Review, 21(2), pp. 53–76 Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202354 Stefanie Vedder, Benjamin Friedländer, Simon Bogumil-Uçan, Tanja Klenk Design/Methodology/Approach: The article employs a comparative de- sign to analyse the adoption of global public administration concepts across different administrative branches. Given their shared rigid Webe- rian tradition but divergent tasks and context, the study uses the German financial and social administrations as examples. The findings are derived from a survey of local agencies. Findings: The study reveals a persistent influence of strong Weberian traditions on the structural and operational makeup of both branches, indicating a significant path dependency in governance understanding. The characteristics of New Public Management and New Public Govern- ance are comparatively more prominent in social than in financial admin- istration, which can be attributed to differences in tasks and relations, especially with political actors. Academic contribution to the field: In addition to supplementing exist- ing detailed analyses of the (non-)success of specific public administra- tion reforms, the study takes a comprehensive view of the long-term development of public administration structure and perception, span- ning multiple reforms. While acknowledging the formative influence of administrative tradition on the entire public administration system, the focus is on the nuanced effects of administrative traditions on diverse organisations, encouraging future comparative research. Originality/Significance/Value: In addition to the contribution to the field, our comparative methodology and empirical study makeup show the advantages of concentrating on a minimal number of paradigms that can be delineated as clearly as possible, instead of operationalising public administration reforms with a multitude of (potentially country-specific) indicators. With this approach, we lay the groundwork for the extension of the comparative design to other countries and administrative systems. Keywords: financial administration, social administration, local governance, administrative culture, path dependency JEL: H79 1 Introduction There is an ongoing debate among scholars about why public administrations repeatedly come under strain and how governance models in public admin- istration (need to) change over time (Pierre and Peters, 2020; Kuhlmann and Wollmann, 2019; Lægreid and Christensen, 2017). In the past decades, gov- ernments around the world have experimented with various administrative reforms aimed at keeping pace with the dynamic socioeconomic environment, increasing productivity and efficiency, and improving collaboration with the private sector and civil society (Pollitt and Bouckaert, 2017; Wegrich, 2021). In line with existing scholarship, we observe three main paradigms of public governance models: (1) the Weberian model of hierarchical and bureaucratic public administration (Weber, 1921/22) as the longest standing doctrine, pre- vailing for most of the twentieth century (Dunleavy and Hood, 1994), (2) the New Public Management model (NPM) of a market-based public administration Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 55 Does Context Matter? Governance Models in Local Administration which had its heyday from the late 1980s to the late 1990s (Lapuente and Van de Walle, 2020) and (3) the New Public Governance model (NPG), which has drawn the attention to a plural and pluralistic state since the early 2000s (Osborne, 2010; Torfing and Triantafillou, 2014). There is no doubt that the administrative paradigms associated with those reforms have to be under- stood as ideal types. As administrative reforms are multifaceted and highly presuppositional, they create different governance practices among orga- nizations, policy fields and countries (Christensen and Lægreid, 2011; Pollitt and Bouckaert, 2017). However, it is hard to ascertain – let alone predict – in what way reforms inter- act with existing logics and how administrative structures and processes align with these paradigms in practice. It has been acknowledged that the diffusion of reforms can vary among countries and hindered by path dependences, en- grained traditions and persistent administrative cultures (Peters and Painter, 2010). This facilitates a mismatch between reform objectives and factual ad- ministrative practices. The German administrative system can generally be characterized as a legalis- tic Weberian Rechtsstaat, with a strong public law tradition (Kuhlmann et al., 2021) that has seen dynamic developments and several ambitious administra- tive reforms over the last decades. In comparison to other countries, NPM ori- ented reforms have so far been considered to have had rather modest impact on the bureaucratic and legalistic tradition, with great heterogeneity of reform priorities, implemented elements, and effects (Wegrich, 2021; Hammerschmid and Oprisor, 2016). While the impact of the NPM model on local administra- tion in Germany has been studied from different comparative perspectives (comparing local administration within Germany (Kuhlmann et al., 2008) and comparing local administration in different European countries (Kuhlmann, 2010; Kersting et al., 2009), similar studies for the NPG model are still lacking. However, there are studies that discuss particular elements of NPG and assess their impact, such as remunicipalization (Wollmann, 2016) or co-production (Loeffler and Timm-Arnold, 2020), or contributions on coping with recent local policy challenges, like critical infrastructure resilience (Monstadt and Schmidt, 2019; Knodt et al., 2022) or migration (Martins and Davion, 2023). Taking these previous results as a starting point, we aim to identify to what extend public administrations, namely the local financial administration (FA) and social administration (SA) in Germany, conform to the different adminis- trative paradigms, taking into consideration the allegedly rigid administrative culture that might implicate a strong path dependency. In addition, we ask whether different branches of public administration within the same adminis- trative system show conformity to reforms in the same way, independent of their respective tasks and context. Studies looking at the practical impact of several governance models on ad- ministrative procedures in specific policy fields are so far missing. Local gov- ernments are an especially interesting research object in this regard, as this level of administration is the most diverse and the most reactive to reforms. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202356 Stefanie Vedder, Benjamin Friedländer, Simon Bogumil-Uçan, Tanja Klenk Against this background, the article conducts a survey among agency heads of local financial and social administration in the five largest municipalities of each federal state and in the three city-states of Germany. The paper analyzes to what extent core principles of the Weberian, NPM, and NPG models are engrained in current organizational structures and operating procedures as well as in cooperation and co-creation ambitions. In doing so, we make not only a theoretical contribution to the question about the interaction of administrative culture and reactivity of local govern- ments to reform, but also an empirical contribution to the discussion on the factual implementation of different governance models and their variation among administrative branches. Our methodological approach of defining a minimal number of abstract administrative paradigms that can be delineated as clearly as possible, rather than focusing on a more narrow understanding of reforms, provides a useful starting point for future comparative research: administrative models that are defined in more detail through specific reform trends and measures can be highly context-specific and might overlap or not be applicable in other (national) contexts. The definition of more abstract par- adigms prevents this problem and promises more valid results. The article proceeds as follows: In the next section, we first review the litera- ture on principles and trajectories of the Weberian, NPM, and NPG model. Sec- tion three presents the institutional background and reform developments in the German local FA and SA. We argue that both cases are especially interest- ing as they are set in an administrative culture often described as idealtypically Weberian, but have undergone extensive reform processes in recent decades, each according to their specific function. This would suggest diverging mani- festations and combinations of public governance models, which makes them a constructive starting point for comparative perspectives and for the evalua- tion of the impact of reform measures. In section four we analyze the percep- tions of the heads of local FA and SA regarding the application and influence of governance principles and emphasize salient similarities and differences between the two administrative spheres. Based on the results, we discuss rea- sons that explain the specific similarities and variations in section five. In summary, survey participants in both local FA and SA perceive their organiza- tions to still operate mainly according to traditional Weberian principles, show- ing an overall low conformity to the administrative paradigms of NPM and NPG. Characteristics associated with these two paradigms are seen to be of higher relevance for daily routines in SA. We ascribe this result to the difference in tasks and context between the two administrative branches, which prevents a convergence of administrative branches under uniform reform paradigms. 2 Governance Models In line with public administration literature (Pollitt and Bouckaert, 2017; Aris- tovnik et al., 2022), we differentiate three generic models of public adminis- tration: the Weberian model of hierarchical bureaucracy, the NPM model and Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 57 Does Context Matter? Governance Models in Local Administration the NPG model. These models differ, among others, with regard to their pre- dominant modes of coordination, their rules to divide work and assign respon- sibility, ideas of the role of citizens (citoyen, customer or partner), and their overall organizational objectives (focus on the rule of law, achieving economic efficiency or ‘good governance’). It is not assumed that these models occur in their pure form in empirical reality Therefore, it is all the more important to clearly define the basic building blocks of each model. This challenge can be ap- proached in a first step by distinguishing waves of public sector reform which express specific (political) ideals. While criticism of bureaucratic governance is nearly as old as the model as such (Tomo, 2018), the Weberian idealtype has not been questioned as a guiding approach for governing the public sec- tor throughout the twentieth century. Remarkably, it was not before the mid- 1990s – Germany was a late comer in this respect (Hammerschmid and Oprisor, 2016) – that bureaucratic governance was supposed to be replaced by ideas of NPM. Only two decades later, however, an increasing awareness of the prob- lems and pitfalls of NPM has fuelled a second wave of public sector reform and the evolution of what is called ‘new public governance’ (Osborne, 2010). Public administration designed according to the Weberian model of bureau- cratic governance is thought to operate outside the political sphere and con- stitute a regime in its own, with a respective set of rules and an according organizational culture. The main feature of bureaucratic governance is a strict system of super- and subordination. The hierarchical levels define responsibil- ities and obligations as well as strictly vertical lines of communication. Public servants are professionals who are selected due to a specific set of compe- tences. They are expected to understand the importance of rule compliance, to exert them in an impartial and impersonal manner, and to make their de- cisions and activities transparent in detailed files. The internalization of rule- bound behaviour serves one objective: to establish and maintain rational-le- gal authority (Weber, 1921/22), which represents a clear alternative to the power-driven, ‘irrational’ interactions associated with the political sphere. As both bureaucratic governance and the welfare state came under increasing pressure in the late 1970s, consequences of budgetary strain and administra- tive inefficiency gained importance. By following neoliberal and market-like beliefs, state failure became a compelling argument to change the public sec- tor toward marketization and competition (Aucoin, 1990; Hood, 1991; Pollitt, 1990; Dunleavy and Hood, 1994). NPM as a set of primarily managerial and cost saving ideas dominated the administrative reform agenda in many OECD countries. Starting from its original movement in the Anglophone world, NPM later spread to other countries in different variations and gained steam during the 1980s and 1990s (Pollitt and Bouckaert, 2017). Most NPM reforms – whose conceptual roots lie in managerialism and new institutional econom- ics – were aimed at transforming governments into leaner, but more effective administrative organizations with clearly separated responsibilities (Osborne and Gaebler, 1992; Klijn, 2012). Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202358 Stefanie Vedder, Benjamin Friedländer, Simon Bogumil-Uçan, Tanja Klenk Although it is difficult to paint a unified picture of NPM, some general fea- tures serve to characterize key reform ambitions: public organizations are ex- pected to improve effectiveness and efficiency of government performance, which requires the clear statement of strategic goals, the use of performance indicators and the control of outputs. Overall, transparency regarding the structure, performance and budget is to be enhanced. Another focus lies on the breakup of ‘monolithic’ organizational structures by using different forms of decentralization, delegation, and outsourcing. All these facets imply a shift to greater competition and the use of market or semi-market mechanisms in providing public services (Aucoin, 1990; Hood, 1991; Kickert, 1997). Howev- er, the implementation of NPM raised criticism and concerns, among others, regarding its short-term perspective, especially budget cutbacks, at the ex- pense of quality standards as well as insufficient consideration of different values in administration and politics (Hood, 1991; Aristovnik et al., 2022). When looking at recent public governance scholarship, a variety of models be named, such as digital-era governance, good governance or collaborative governance (Peters et al., 2022; Ansel and Gash, 2008; Dunleavy et al. 2008; Kooiman, 1999). Although all concepts have their raison d’être and enhance our understanding of important facets of public governance models, we ar- gue that they are all understood as ‘post-NPM’ (Reiter and Klenk, 2019) and have some shared ideals and building blocks that can be used to construct a basic model termed NPG.In contrast to the Weberian and the NPM model, NPG is defined by networks that allow – and even encourage – collaboration and mutual adjustment through horizontal lines and trust-based interac- tions (Peters and Pierre, 1998). Networks to organize public service provi- sion are characterized by a plurality of actors: public and private (for-profit and non-profit) actors as well as individual citizens, interest associations, and politicians participate in less formalized negotiations to achieve consensus about public services and the modes of their implementation. As a result, the boundaries between politics and administration, which had been demarked clearly by the ‘steering and rowing’-metaphor of the NPM model, have be- come blurred and the role of elected politicians and administrative leaders have changed (Peters et al., 2022). Political and administrative leaders are perceived as ‘metagovernors’ (Sørensen and Torfing, 2009) that employ in- direct means of coordination to influence and shape decision-making and im- plementation processes. Instead of exerting direct political and bureaucratic control or supervising performance management contracts, leaders use dis- cursive framing or institutional design to smooth the process of consensus building and to facilitate service provision. However, this is not considered as a weakness, but as strategic means to increase the democratic legitimacy, the effectiveness and innovativeness of public governance. 3 The Case of German Local FA and SA The German public administrative system has often been characterized as an ideal example of a bureaucratic legal state (Rechtsstaat), whose functioning Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 59 Does Context Matter? Governance Models in Local Administration is strongly influenced by a public law tradition, combined with an orientation to professional and legal accountability and compliance. In line with the trend in most OECD countries, the call for a stronger results orientation and man- agerial culture and control emerged in the early 1990s and resulted in cor- responding management reforms, especially by introducing the ‘New Steer- ing Model’ at the local level (Proeller and Siegel, 2021). In Germany, the local government level plays a significant role in implementing public policies and providing citizen-oriented public services (Kuhlmann and Wollmann, 2019). It has been the major arena of public sector reforms, modernization, and out- sourcing in recent decades (Pollitt and Bouckaert, 2017). This is especially true for local financial management and social policy. Both policy fields are subject to complex and specific legislation (e.g., the codifica- tion of social law in the form of Social Codes), while at the same time having passed through extensive reform processes (e.g., new financial management or hybridization of welfare state services) (Grohs, 2014; Proeller and Siegel, 2021). This intertwining between a traditional administrative system on the one hand and the experience of various public sector reforms on the other is an ideal breeding ground for shedding light on how different governance models shape the functioning and organization of public service delivery. Approximately 11,000 municipalities and about 295 counties are responsible for a broad range of public services. On the one hand, they perform admin- istrative tasks that are devolved by the federal government and the German Länder. On the other hand, local authorities deliver services as part of their con- stitutionally protected local self-government (Kuhlmann and Wollmann, 2019). Within the broad range of local public services, independent budgetary poli- cy and financial management are traditionally core elements of German local self-government. In times of growing budgetary constraints and austerity, fi- nancial management takes on a central role in ensuring administrative capac- ity. Its routine contact with the supervisory authority endows the FA with a high degree of influence (Geißler, 2014). Usually organized as a cross-sectional administrative department, it is concerned with the management of assets and liabilities and the procurement and distribution of financial resources to specialist administrative units. Local financial management practices follow a strictly formal and legal orientation. The municipal budget law of the German Länder which is regulated in the local government constitutions clearly pre- scribes balanced budgets, control and enforcement instruments as well as a strict structure of supervision (Person et al., 2021). Since it is the task to ensure compliance with the principle of economic efficiency and to consider this prin- ciple in preparing and implementing local budgets, FA is essentially dedicated to internal coordination tasks and acts as the interface of all actors involved in municipal budget policy. A decade ago, Geißler (2014) concluded that despite new reform approaches towards participatory budgeting, the expectations of greater openness towards citizens and their integration in budgeting and con- solidation processes remained unfulfilled. However, there is a need for further empirical studies to determine whether this assumption still holds true. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202360 Stefanie Vedder, Benjamin Friedländer, Simon Bogumil-Uçan, Tanja Klenk Social policy is one of the most significant policy fields at the local level. A large share of local public expenditure and employment is devoted to the provision of social services (Federal Ministry of Finance, 2022; Federal Statistical Office of Germany, 2023). Budgetary constraints as well as socio-economic and de- mographic challenges make this field the primary object of consolidation and cost-cutting efforts in many municipalities. The range of tasks which is fulfilled by the local SA is extremely diverse and must be differentiated into complete- ly municipally financed voluntary responsibilities where local authorities can decide whether and how to provide (e.g., social housing, establishment of nursing centers), mandatory tasks, primarily financed by local governments, where they are only allowed to decide on how to provide (e.g., child and youth care, social assistance) and delegated responsibilities with only little autono- my and which are funded by the federal and Länder level (e.g., housing bene- fits, health surveillance). Due to the codification of social law in the form of Social Codes the execution of tasks is embedded in a comprehensive legal framework, regulations for the various areas of responsibility are significantly complex (Schimanke, 2021). Another specific element of local social policy is the close interconnection between the public and the third sector, with volun- tary organizations providing social services alongside the public sphere. The production of public goods was traditionally shaped by a specific kind of local corporatism representing a division of labour between public bodies and huge welfare associations. However, these rather solid relationships have been un- der considerable pressure to change for years (e.g., in the direction of marketi- zation and managerialism), which has led to a very heterogeneous landscape of service providers (Evers, 2019; Bönker et al., 2018; Grohs et al., 2017). In the context of the ongoing debate on the factors that shape governance models, we may offer divergent expectations regarding the governance models of local public administration (Kuhlmann et al., 2022). An approach informed by path-dependency and historical institutionalism would imply a continued prevalence of the Weberian model as history, in a simple way, mat- ters a great deal (Greener, 2005). Conversely, a neo-institutional perspective, highlighting the influence of global ideas, would imply a situation in which na- tional structures and their embeddedness into particular historical, cultural, and normative settings are progressively losing their impact, thereby reveal- ing the emergence of global patterns in public administration, such as NPM or NPG, and a greater fragmentation of generally accepted traditional admin- istrative styles (Welch and Wong, 1998; Howlett, 2003). A third perspective would emphasize the significance of tasks and context as crucial factors for determining governance models. Embracing this perspective would entail rec- ognizing notable and persistent differences between the governance models of the two branches of local administration, with very specific manifestations emerging (O’Toole and Meier, 2015). Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 61 Does Context Matter? Governance Models in Local Administration 4 Methods To identify which governance models are prevalent in German local FA and SA, we revert to the ‘basic building blocks’ of governance models as outlined in section 2. These building blocks concern organizational structures – such as hierarchies or the allocation of specialized tasks –, operating procedures – such as the extent of the delegation of responsibilities within the organiza- tion –, and the interaction of local government with its environment, namely political decision-makers, clients, and citizens. For this reason, we conducted an online survey addressing the heads of agencies in charge of administrating social and financial services asking them to assess their own organization in view of these basic characteristics. The survey included a total of 75 items designed to shed light on a variety of questions. These items consisted of statements that the respondents were asked to express their (dis-)agreement to and are the result of a comprehen- sive review of the literature that was identified in the Scopus database as being particularly relevant to this topic (Aristovnik et al., 2022). Before conducting the survey, the statements were extensively tested in a pretest with several Ger- man administrative experts and scholars. For this paper, we included 15 items, which can be grouped into three batteries with five statements each, in our analyses. The selection aimed to exclude duplicates and to avoid ambiguous statements that cannot clearly be associated with either the Weberian model of public administration, NPM, or NPG. All items were measured on a five-point Likert scale ranging from ‘disagree’ to ‘agree’ or from ‘always’ to ‘never’.1 The clear association of each item with a governance model means that a high average agreement to a battery of statements can be seen as an indicator for the prevalence of the respective model as perceived by the agency heads. We tested the internal consistency of the batteries using Cronbach’s alpha. All Cronbach’s alpha values are > 0.7 (Weberian model: 0.711, NPM: 0.721, NPG: 0.729), suggesting a very high consistency of the item selection. Since the size and population of German municipalities – and, accordingly, their organization, tasks, and resources – differ widely, the complete survey included the five largest municipalities of each federal state and the districts (Bezirke) of the three city-states Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg. The aim of the selection was to create a data set which facilitates both aggregated anal- yses of cases that are similar in their context (largest municipality within a state) and differentiated analyses that can account for the heterogeneity of German states and municipalities (e.g., differing population size, former East or West German state)2. For each municipality or district, we determined the abovementioned heads of agencies responsible for FA and SA. Though the de- 1 All items refer to the present state of the organization. An exception was a battery of items concerning changes necessitated by having to cope with the COVID19 pandemic. The analysis if this item battery is not included in this article. 2 Analyses of governance models show no noticeable differences between large and small mu- nicipalities, their location in former East or West German states and between federal states and city states. The article, therefore, neglects these criteria and focuses solely on differences between administrative branches. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202362 Stefanie Vedder, Benjamin Friedländer, Simon Bogumil-Uçan, Tanja Klenk nomination of these positions varies (adjunct mayors, heads of department, heads of office), functional equivalents can be identified in all municipalities. The survey population includes 293 respondents, ranging from two to four people per municipality. 89 respondents completed the survey, amounting to a response rate of 34 per cent including all federal states and the city states. The response rate in the two branches of administration was almost identical, with 44 respondents from FA and 45 respondents from SA, which creates the ideal prerequisite for a comparison. Our analyses base on a two-pronged approach. First, we use descriptive statis- tics to determine the overall evaluation of the item batteries associated with each public administration model, respectively. For this step, we assigned each answer category a numerical value ranging from 1 to 5, with 1 repre- senting the response ‘never’ or ‘disagree’ and 5 being the highest category on the affirmative side of the scale. A high average value for the items in a battery expresses a prevalence of the governance model as perceived by the respondents. A low standard error suggests a high consistency in response behavior throughout the group of survey participants. Second, we compare the levels of agreement to single items within the models to uncover nuances in the administrative branches’ self-evaluation. 5 Results Our analyses show that the statements concerning organizational features associated with the Weberian model meet a very high level of agreement among the respondents in our sample as a whole (see table 1). The NPM and NPG models are less pronounced with an average difference to the Webe- rian model of 0.6 points for the financial administration and 0.5 points for the social administration. Referring to our expectations described in section 2, these results suggest that administrative traditions override conformity to administrative reforms and that local public administrations continue to ad- here to long established principles rather than being characterized by reform models in their present state. Even though an overall persistence of the We- berian model could have been expected considering the strong Rechtsstaats tradition of the German case, it is nevertheless surprising that the battery of items associated with the Weberian bureaucratic model scores noticeable higher than both NPM and NPG. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 63 Does Context Matter? Governance Models in Local Administration Table 1: public administration models, average values and standard deviation. Total Sample Financial Administration Social Administration WEBER 3.8 (0.73) 3.7 (0.94) 4.0 (0.39) NPM 3.3 (0.78) 3.1 (0.89) 3.5 (0.59) NPG 3.3 (0.75) 3.1 (0.89) 3.5 (0.52) Source: own data At first glance, it is difficult to come to definite conclusions regarding the differences in self-conception of the respondents from different administra- tive branches, as all average values are higher in SA. However, compared to FA, the standard deviation for all models is lower in SA, suggesting an overall higher homogeneity in the responses from this administrative branch and an absence of outliers, which might have skewed the accumulated results for FA. Although the small number of respondents call for caution in the substantial interpretation of standard deviations, this result hints at a greater contextual and institutional complexity in SA, which interacts with a wider variety of ad- ministrative, political and societal actors and, therefore, has to fulfill several different roles and tasks simultaneously, such as the hierarchical imposing of sanctions, the efficient use of limited financial resources as well as acting as co-creator and contracting authority. Analyses of the individual items show overall similar tendencies in the admin- istrative branches (see figures 1-3). This is especially noticeable when sim- plifying the scales and pooling the categories ‘agree’ and ‘mostly agree’ or ‘disagree’ and ‘mostly disagree’ respectively. This would speak to the inter- pretation that prevalent governance paradigms in both FA and SA develop along a similar path dependency and/or respond equally to global paradigm shifts rather than following a paradigm dependent on their task and context. Taking into account the results in table 1, path dependency seems to be the strongest determining factor, explaining the continuous dominance of the Weberian model. At a closer look, however, we can see noticeable differences between the ad- ministrative branches which hint at a significant context sensitivity. Although FA scores higher for the item “Our organization’s operating procedures are based on clear rules.”, which is a core principle of Weberian administration, respondents from SA more often agree to the statement “As executive direc- tor, I pay attention above all to rule compliance.”, stressing the individual’s role and hierarchical understanding in a Weberian bureaucracy (see figure 1). The respondents from SA also score higher on the remaining Weber-item that Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202364 Stefanie Vedder, Benjamin Friedländer, Simon Bogumil-Uçan, Tanja Klenk focuses on the individual’s role in the organization: The perception of a clear allocation of tasks and competencies to the employees is more pronounced in SA. Figure 1: Responses to Items associated with the Weberian model. Item 1: “Our organization’s operating procedures are based on clear rules.”, Item 2: “As executive director, I pay attention above all to rule compliance.”, Item 3: “Tasks, competencies, and responsibilities of employees are clearly defined.”, Item 4: “The goals of individuals, teams, and organizational units are fully aligned.”, Item 5: “Our work is influenced by political considerations.” 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Weberian Model disagree/never mostly disagree/rarely partly agree, partly disagree/sometimes mostly agree/often agree/always prefer not to say Source: own data A strong specialization of units and tasks is a fixture of the Weberian mod- el of public administration. A high degree of specialization necessitates a clear alignment of all units with the organization’s goals. Goals of individu- als, teams, and organizational units seem to be less aligned in FA: Here, 56.3 per cent of the respondents say that alignment is lacking, compared to 43.8 per cent respondents from SA. This could be explained by the differences in complexity and diversity of tasks in the two administrative branches. FA interacts with different administrative units, but its tasks remain usually the same (budget control). A dedicated specialization and goal alignment seem to be less important for the functioning and organization of local financial management. SA, on the contrary, has to satisfy different stakeholders and fulfills comparatively divers tasks in a dynamic environment which requires a more intense specialization of the staff and a full alignment with the overall organizational goals. In line with the classic argument of administrative neutrality, we consider political influence on decision-making, interpreting a low political influence as an indicator for the prevalence of the Weberian model. The survey shows that political considerations play a very important part in the decision-mak- Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 65 Does Context Matter? Governance Models in Local Administration ing of both FA and SA with almost two thirds of the respondents choosing the category ‘often’ and no respondents opting for ‘never’. However, political considerations are noticeably more important for FA than for SA: 15.9 per cent of the respondents from the financial administration state that political considerations influence all their decisions. Respondents from SA rather opt for the category ‘sometimes’ (22.2 per cent), implying a higher degree of au- tonomy in this respect. Overall, respondents from SA seem to perceive their organization as more clearly structured, but in their inner workings largely in- dependent of political consideration, whereas respondents from FA see their organization as more strongly politically influenced. Turning to NPM, we regard outsourcing of supporting tasks as a central consequence of NPM reforms. Although respondents from both FA and SA state that some supporting tasks remain within the organization, outsourc- ing seems to be more common in SA, with almost half of the respondents from this group choosing the option ‘sometimes’ as their reaction to the cor- responding statement. Overall, however, this reform element is perceived as comparatively less relevant (see figure 2). Figure 2: Responses to Items associated with the NPM model. Item 1: “We are outsourcing supporting tasks.”, Item 2: “Our organization drafts strategic goals.”, Item 3: “We use indicators to review goal achievement and internal controlling.”, Item 4: “I delegate tasks to subdivisions.”, Item 5: “We publish extensive information about our organization.” 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% NPM Model disagree/never mostly disagree/rarely partly agree, partly disagree/sometimes mostly agree/often agree/always prefer not to say Source: own data The analyses show that the formulation of strategic goals is common, but that performance indicators or similar instruments to assess the organization’s work play a comparatively less important part in day to day-business. The use of indicators is more prevalent in SA than in FA, where only about a tenth of all respondents agree to the given statement (11.4 per cent vs. 17.8 per cent Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202366 Stefanie Vedder, Benjamin Friedländer, Simon Bogumil-Uçan, Tanja Klenk in SA). We suggest that both efficiency and effectiveness are expected more from the SA than from the FA. Especially in times of growing budgetary con- straints and a simultaneous increase in the scope of social tasks, our result indicates that SA, to which a large share of public expenditure is devoted, is under even stronger pressure from politics and external stakeholders to pro- vide services more effectively and efficiently. We see the delegation of tasks as an expression of the efficiency principle, which is a central paradigm of NPM. Interestingly, there are obvious differ- ences between respondents in FA and SA regarding the extent to which tasks are delegated: 53.3 per cent of the respondents from SA fully support com- prehensive delegation practices, compared to only 36.4 per cent respondents from FA. Lastly, the statement “We publish extensive information about our organiza- tion.” is an expression of the costumer orientation associated with NPM. SA seems to be slightly more open in this respect, seeing more than 60 per cent of the respondents choosing an affirmative answer as compared to 52.2 per cent of respondents from FA. Again, this is readily explained with context-sensitiv- ity: As SA interacts with a wider variety of actors, especially with regard to the public, extensive information conforms with (societal) demands towards SA. Focusing on NPG principles, such as possible influences from the organiza- tions’ social setting and role in the community, the results confirm the as- sumption that SA feels a higher impact of (changes in) societal expectations on their work. About two thirds of all respondents chose an answer on the affirmative side of the scale when asked about the influence of societal ex- pectations on their work (see figure 3). Interestingly, respondents from FA were either more unsure of their answers or more reluctant to share their views. We see several cases of non-response for all items in the group of FA survey participants, whereas all SA participants gave their view on the second and third item and non-response behaviour for the remaining items is lower in comparison. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 67 Does Context Matter? Governance Models in Local Administration Figure 3: Responses to Items associated with the NPG model. Item 1: “Our work is influenced by societal expectations.”, Item 2: “We aim to solve conflicts between stakeholders in a cooperative and consensus-orientated manner.”, Item 3: “We cooperate with civil society organizations.”, Item 4: “The public is involved in important decision-making processes.”, Item 5: “We encourage co-creation.”. 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% NPG Model disagree/never mostly disagree/rarely partly agree, partly disagree/sometimes mostly agree/often agree/always prefer not to say Source: own data There are differences in the patterns of how the branches of public adminis- tration deal with external stakeholders. 20 per cent of SA respondents (com- pared to 13 per cent from FA) express that they always strive for consensus when it comes to interest conflicts with external stakeholders, 56.4 per cent (compared to 43.6 per cent from FA) say that they often try to come to a con- sensus. Conversely, 18.2. per cent of the respondents from FA (compared to 6.7 per cent from SA) argue that they sometimes aspire to reach a consensus. Cooperation with civil society organizations is more common for respondents in SA than in FA, where only one respondent states that such a cooperation is the general rule (vs. 15.6 per cent in SA). Regarding the specific role that is assigned to citizens in decision-making processes, 46.7 per cent of SA respon- dents express that the public is sometimes involved in decision-making be- yond a purely consultative function. For FA, the share of affirming responses is 36.4 per cent, which at first glance indicates a more extensive involvement of the public in FA. This conclusion changes, however, when the other categories are considered as well. When focusing on the overall positive side of the scale, slightly more respondents form FA state that they often involve the public (15.9 per cent vs. 11.1 per cent in SA). At the same time, marginally more re- spondents from SA opt for the answer category ‘never’ when asked about the public’s involvement, largely levelling out significant discrepancies. According to our respondents, co-creation is slightly more common in SA than in FA. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202368 Stefanie Vedder, Benjamin Friedländer, Simon Bogumil-Uçan, Tanja Klenk 6 Discussion The results suggest that core aspects of the classic Weberian model are firmly rooted in both types of administrative branches, suggesting a strong path de- pendency and firm administrative culture which shape governance paradigms in German local administration, independent specific tasks. However, there are differences in the perception of the individual’s role within the organization. In SA, compliance with the complex social legislation seems to have a dominant influence on operating procedures and individual decision-making, as a large part of implementing social policy at the local level relies on the execution of federal law. In contrast, the financial sovereignty as a core element of local self-government forces FA to align its processes with clear procedural rules, but at the same time allows structural flexibility and autonomy in procuring and distributing financial resources. Response behavior of public managers in FA, therefore, suggests larger discrepancies between their individual self-con- ceptions and the evaluation of their organization within this battery. Compli- ance appears to be perceived differently by financial officers, as it seems to be an outward-looking task rather than an inward-looking one. Another point of interest is the comparatively strong perceived political influence in FA. In our view, this does not contradict the overall dominance of the Weberian model. It merely underscores the fact that especially budgetary processes, while rule- based, are to some extent the outcome of political struggle between conflict- ing priorities and alternative programs (Greenwood et al., 1974). If we look at the core elements of the NPM paradigm, all principles are con- sidered to be more important for operating processes and decision-making in SA than in FA. In our interpretation, SA seems to be more open to the in- troduction and application of new management tools, which can be seen as consequence of context-sensitivity especially considering the variety of stake- holder with whom SA interacts on a daily basis. The challenge of meeting their expectations might prompt SA to implement politically promoted reforms more resolutely to conform with a high pressure to demonstrate legitima- cy. Contrary, the diffusion and implementation of NPM measures especially for internal performance and managerial control is still in its infancy for FA. These findings are consistent with insights from prior studies: Although in- struments, such as accrual accounting, have been introduced in many cases, it is hardly used for the purpose of strategic alignment (Proeller and Siegel, 2021). Looking at the impact of financial management reforms in German mu- nicipalities, this ‘gap’ also exists for the implementation of product budgets, which are largely informational in nature but do not contain a systematic link between performance information and financial resources (Weiss, 2017). In this vein, our cases in FA underscore what has been noted in international literature: NPM reforms are less fundamental or revolutionary than originally expected regarding their practical impact (Lapuente and van de Walle, 2020) and can be seen rather as an addition to previous concepts than a surrogate. The NPG model of public administration sets the aim to move away from a “unicentric” government or “multicentric” market towards “pluricentric” net- Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 69 Does Context Matter? Governance Models in Local Administration works (Sørensen and Torfing, 2018, p. 302). According to our results, local SA is more strongly embedded in their public environment than local FA. This should be attributable to the nature and diversity of their tasks, which place high demands on cooperating with external actors. FA, on the other hand, acts mainly as an internal service provider, making external cooperation and participatory practices a subordinate factor, which speaks for a context-sensi- tive prevalence of NPG rather than a neo-institutionalist dissemination of an international trend. What is more interesting is that cooperation ambitions of SA are mostly restricted to organized actors and interests. At a first glance, this seems unexpected, as there has been a “substantial growth in participa- tory innovation in recent years” (Fung, 2015, p. 514; Jäske, 2019) creating a diverse range of opportunities to involve citizens in local decision-making. In our cases, these opportunities do not seem to play a decisive role even for an administrative branch with such an immediate impact on citizens´ every-day life. Rather, it is apparent that traditional welfare corporatism is still the cor- nerstone of implementing social policy in Germany (Grohs, 2014), highlight- ing the role of path dependency for German local administration which has al- ready been visible in the strong Weberian orientation. In addition, our results line up with prior studies that observe not only that instruments for individual citizen participation are infrequently used, despite ample opportunities, but that the development towards direct public involvement increasingly loses momentum. Instead of an expansion of public participation, we can detect a trend leading away from participation towards consultation (Roth, 2022). An important reason for the stalling or even retreat of participatory practices in local government lies in the moderate active exercise of respective opportu- nities by citizens which has been falling well short of expectations. Overall, our results provide a clear answer to the initial research question: at least in the German case, context and task determine the prevalent gov- ernance paradigm in public administration. A uniform conformity to interna- tional trends or political propagation of administrative reforms cannot be as- sumed, refuting a base assumption of neo-institutionalism. A certain degree of uniformity stems from a strong path dependency that can be traced back to a firm administrative culture as a distinctives of the German case. However, context-sensitivity can be seen as the most important determining factor. The interaction of path dependency and context-sensitivity implies that gov- ernance models – whether they originate in administrative culture or political reform – in local FA and SA do not supplant one another. Rather, NPM and NPG form complements to the contemporary Weberian tradition. This is con- sistent with findings from southern European countries by Ongaro (2009), which observe a similar processes in which newer managerial reforms have supplemented previous administrative traditions. We find indication that in both administrative branches, ideas of a more managerialized service delivery are combined with the ideal of a plural and pluralist state as well as inter-or- ganizational processes. Nevertheless, we note differences between FA and SA. Depending on tasks and context, NPM and NPG seems to play a different influential role in the two branches. In FA, NPM and NPG principles appears to Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202370 Stefanie Vedder, Benjamin Friedländer, Simon Bogumil-Uçan, Tanja Klenk have a less dominant effect on operating processes and decision-making. We suggest that FA continues to be fairly rigid in its practices due to the routine patterns of actor constellation, interaction and coordination as well as the comparatively uniform range of tasks. SA tends to be more flexible and open for innovation within their scope of action. At the least, public managers in SA seem to try different newer approaches to respond to complex environmen- tal dynamics and changing stakeholder expectations, even if their interpreta- tion of public participation is limited. There are factors that might restrict the persuasiveness of these conclusions. It is possible that the answers given by our respondents do not wholly reflect their actual perception, if they felt “self-presentation concerns” (Krumpal, 2013, p. 2025). Although this effect is usually associated with questions about personal behavior and sensitive information, respondents might see the need to paint a positive picture of their organization in light of reform efforts. How- ever, the impact of this possible incident should remain low, because a social desirability bias presupposes that respondents know of specific assessment criteria against which their answers will be judged (Stocké, 2004). As the in- troductory text to the survey did not mention the compliance with specific political reform ideas and the items we use to analyze the prevalent public administration model are part of a larger survey covering many different as- pects, the respondents should not have such perceptions. In addition, the design of the survey disregards the possibility that the prev- alent model might not be primarily influenced by the tasks formally ascribed to an organization, but by its specific environment, as organizational theory and the contingency approach would suggest (Valeri, 2021). As we included only the largest municipalities into our survey, aiming to control for factors of a specific environment, we cannot say whether the mixture of models found here will hold true for all local FA and SA in Germany. Although the general uniformity of German public administration based on its extensive adminis- trative law makes a compelling case for the transferability of the results, this limitation calls for an expansion of the case study congruent with a different theoretical foundation. Our discussion begs one follow-up question: are there ways to predict the fur- ther development of the prevalence of a particular governance model or the combination of all three models? It seems unlikely that the Weberian principles are steadily losing their influence on local administrative structures and pro- cesses to a similar extent as characteristics of newer governance models are im- plemented. When taking into account the overall low direct and individual cit- izen involvement in active decision-making following an initial enthusiasm, the rise of NPG to the marked detriment of the Weberian model and NPM seems – at least for the German case – just as improbable at this point in time. Instead, our results suggest an intermixture of ‘new’ public administration models over- laying a strong Weberian tradition that remains, in its core, largely untouched. Within this mixture, some observations suggest a waning relevance of NPM. After an ambitious and optimistic start, seeing NPM principles as a remedy to Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 71 Does Context Matter? Governance Models in Local Administration many of the Weberian shortcomings, it has so far not managed to achieve all its goals and rather “seem[s] to have lost the initial enthusiasm” (Lapuente and Van de Walle, 2020, p. 462). Instead, NPM has shown some weaknesses of its own and further reforms can be seen as “rebalancing existing admin- istrative systems” (Christensen, 2012, p. 8). A shrinking element of NPM in the overall mix of governance models could lead to a stronger role of NPG; whether NPG reforms will indeed experience this development, however, cannot be determined yet. Alternatively, the ‘void’ that NPM leaves behind might rather be filled by reinvigorating the Weberian principles, by increasing its relevance within the complete governance model. The linguistic recourse in the form of ‘Neo-Weberian state’, which has been established as a negative reaction to the faults perceived in NPM, would lend itself to this assumption. But as the concept of ‘Neo-Weberian state’ shares several characteristics with both NPM and NPG, such results orientation or citizen involvement (Dunn and Miller, 2007), this is hard to detect. Consequently, the topic calls for further research in the form of repeated surveys and longitudinal observations. 7 Conclusion Years after NPM reforms aimed to re-orient public administration towards managerial principles, research shows that – although there are major differ- ences between states – hierarchical structures have to some extent been wa- tered down, horizontal coordination has increased, and privatization has be- come more common over time (Common, 1998; Hyndman and Lapsley, 2016). Furthermore, network collaboration and the involvement of civil society have changed the way administrative organizations interact with the public, coin- ing terms such as NPG (Torfing and Triantafillou, 2014). Though new trends in public administration do not necessarily substitute es- tablished practices entirely, dominant views may be “supplanted” (Bryson et al., 2014, p. 445) and case studies show that more clear-cut models change towards hybrid forms of governance. As administrative structures are shaped by the administrative cultures in which they evolve (Dan and Pollitt, 2015), it is interesting to analyze the empirical reality of (mixed) governance models in a system that is characterized by a traditionally rigid administrative culture with a strong Weberian history while, at the same time, being subjected to several reforms. Our survey of German local FA and SA shows that public managers perceive their organizations to still work mainly along the principles of the Weberian model of public administration, implying a stronger impact of administrative culture and traditions rather than reforms. Although some features of NPM and NPG can be found, they do not predominate. Therefore, we inferred a layering of these governance models atop a Weberian base. Within this upper layer, we observe a blend of NPM and NPG, with a slightly higher relevance of NPG characteristics in SA. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202372 Stefanie Vedder, Benjamin Friedländer, Simon Bogumil-Uçan, Tanja Klenk The article contributes to the literature in several aspects. First, it expands on studies on the (non-) success of administrative reforms by observing not just the characteristics of one, but of several governance models stemming from very different points in time. It identifies factors which can be seen as deter- minants for a specific intermixture of models, focusing foremost on adminis- trative culture. Second, it deliberates differences between forms of hybridity such as layering and blending. 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Public Administration in a Global Context: Bridging the Gaps of Theory and Practice between Western and Non-Western Nations, Public Administration Review, 58(1), pp. 40–49. 77 2591-2259 / This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ DOI: 10.17573/cepar.2023.2.04 1.01 Original scientific article Analysis of Research on Artificial Intelligence in Public Administration: Literature Review and Textual Analysis Nejc Lamovšek Educational Research Institute, Slovenia nejc.lamovsek@pei.si https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3528-0527 Received: 28. 8. 2023 Revised: 25. 10. 2023 Accepted: 20. 11. 2023 Published: 30. 11. 2023 ABSTRACT Purpose: This study aims to investigate how analysing academic research through digital tools can improve our understanding of the applications, functions, and challenges related to the use of advanced artificial tech- nologies (AI) in public administration. Methodology: The applied methodology relies on the use of digital tools, specifically Voyant-Tools and Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (GPT-4), for text analysis in conjunction with a selection of scientific lit- erature on artificial intelligence and public administration. Findings: The results of our study show that researchers equally report advantages and disadvantages of using AI in public administration. More- over, the research highlights the benefits of using artificial intelligence while emphasising the importance of the ethical and appropriate regula- tion thereof. Practical implications: Our innovative approach of developing and using a combined methodology involving specialised digital tools to analyse scientific literature introduces a new dimension to the examination of scientific texts and has the potential to shape public policy in the field of public administration. Originality: The existing body of research on public administration and artificial intelligence is limited. Our study expands the scientific field by delving into the use of artificial intelligence in public administration. Keywords: digital tools, artificial intelligence, GPT-4, public administration, regu- lation JEL: Z18 Lamovšek, N. (2023). Analysis of Research on Artificial Intelligence in Public Administration: Literature Review and Textual Analysis. Central European Public Administration Review, 21(2), pp. 77–96 Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202378 Nejc Lamovšek 1 Introduction In the age of quickly developing artificial intelligence (AI), it is imperative that the progress of science in this field is accompanied by the progress of AI in the domain of public administration. Xu et al. (2019) defined AI as the simula- tion of human intelligence with a specific system or machines with the aim of mimicking human thinking and behaviour. AI subareas defined by Vijayakumar and Sheshadri (2019) include expert systems, natural language processing, pattern recognition, robotics, and machine learning, among others. Ahn (2023) explained that the essence of AI lies in large language models (LLMs). LLMs are machine-learning models trained on vast text collections and operate by predicting the most likely word to follow a given sequence of text. With their help, processing similar to natural language can be performed, which includes tasks such as translation, analysis, summarization, and proof- reading. LLMs analyse and comprehend the connections between words and concepts, enabling them to follow a logical sequence of ideas. Moshirfar et al. (2023) noted that Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (ChatGPT) is among the most well-known natural language processing (NLP) models that is trained on large language databases. The latest available version of Chat- GPT is Version 4 (ChatGPT-4), which has shown great efficiency and accuracy of results compared to previous versions, even from the perspective of un- derstanding the context of analysed texts. However, software applications available prior to ChatGPT also can perform a general analysis of texts. One such program is Voyant Tools. Alhudithi (2021) explained that Voyant Tools uses computer algorithms to obtain the required information from the text. The areas of use for the Voyant Tools program were defined by Gregory et al. (2022) as the identification of terms that most frequently appear in the text, the occurrence of other terms in connection with the most commonly used terms, visualization of results, and the occur- rence of terms that connote positively or negatively.1 With certain fine adjust- ments, we can also customize the obtained results. Gesk and Leyer (2022) noted the growing interest in utilizing AI-based soft- ware in the public sector, as well. However, research findings from the pri- vate sector cannot be directly applied to the public sector due to disparities in citizens’ perception of services. AI holds significant potential for enhancing public services, primarily in terms of efficiency and service quality, but con- cerns regarding its growth and application remain a significant obstacle to its adoption. Similarly, Androniceanu (2023) found that digitalization and the use of AI can visibly improve managerial and economic efficiency in public admin- istration. Štefanišinová et al. (2021) added that individual AI tools are still in the development phase but already offer substantial advantages in providing public services that will further improve in the future. However, in the use of 1 “Generally words can be used for positive or negative connotations depending on the contex- tual situation. The usage of words may be good or bad sense, impression, experience, feeling, etc. For example, politicians and advertisers may prefer words with positive connotations in view of expressing their message attractively. In case of unpleasant feeling, a word with neg- ative connotations may be used to describe them” (Rao, 2017). Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 79 Analysis of Research on Artificial Intelligence in Public Administration: Literature Review and Textual Analysis advanced analytics, Simonofski et al. (2022) emphasized the importance of re- specting the protection of personal data and human verification of decisions made by AI technologies. The primary objective of the current study was to understand how analysing academic research through digital tools may improve our view into the ap- plications, functions, and issues related to the use of advanced artificial tech- nologies in public administration. We next provide a literature review of the analysed articles. Thereafter, we discuss the selection and advantages of our employed methodology and explain the analytical procedures we used. In the following Results section, we cover the outcomes of literature identification and selection as well as graphical and visual representations of the findings. We then further elabo- rate upon and compare these results with the outcomes of other comparable studies in the Discussion section. Finally, we provide brief conclusions into es- sential insights into the broader applicability of the results obtained, highlight the weaknesses of our research, and show opportunities for further develop- ment of the study. 2 Literature Review of Selected Articles In our brief review of the scientific literature, we primarily focused on the scientific contributions that were discussed and analysed in our research. A brief literature review is a collaborative work of the authors with ChatGPT-4, in which the authors sought a deeper meaning of the analyzed text in accord- ance with the goals of our research. This may, to a certain extent, differ from the intentions of the original authors of the analyzed texts. ChatGPT-4 can hal- lucinate, i.e., cosmetically re-interpret the actual state – a result that must be considered in further interpretations of literature summaries. For one, Wirtz and Müller (2019) discussed the use of AI in public administration through a conceptual study. In their research, they developed an integrated AI frame- work for public management that encompassed all crucial aspects (regula- tion, and ethical and political guidelines), goal of using AI is achieving greater efficiency in public management. Subsequently, Wirtz et al. (2021) conducted a systematic review of the literature in the field of AI in the public sector. Utilizing qualitative and quantitative approaches, they analysed 189 articles. They further performed a methodological classification of articles and ana- lysed the risks and benefits of using AI in the public sector. They discovered an extremely heterogeneous research area that is methodologically unbal- anced and thus proposed more empirical and in-depth studies on the use of AI in the public sector, they anticipate a larger number of empirical data and preposed more in-depth studies of the use of AI in public sector. Previously, Wirtz et al. (2020) had proposed an integrated AI governance framework by considering the interactions of AI challenges, previous regulations and public administration. We can conclude that when balancing risks with the benefits of AI regulation, all stakeholders’ viewpoints should be taken into account for optimal results for the society. Wirtz and Müller (2023) further expanded Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202380 Nejc Lamovšek their research by questioning the development of modelling smart cities and technological interactions of its stakeholders and the use of technologies. They used a literature review, which was rather complex. In the study, they noted that technological city governance can improve efficiency in resource use and enhance the quality of life for citizens. However, they also noted that despite technological progress, traditional governance mechanisms will not become redundant and will be important to balance the weaknesses of smart technological governance. Moreover, Wirtz et al. (2019) explored the use of AI in the public sector and defined the possibilities and challenges in using AI. They conducted a literature review with a selection of keywords that defined the use of AI and challenges in the public sector. Their results identified 10 AI application areas in the public sector and defined four main dimensions of challenges in using AI, the primary of which were how to ensure regulation of AI, how to use it in an ethically acceptable way, and what the impact of AI on a society as a whole will be. In the specialized field of the public sector, namely in the provision of health and social services, Štefanišinová et al. (2021) investigated the use of AI. Utiliz- ing a comparative approach and case analysis, they acquired a realistic assess- ment of current AI technologies and anticipated levels of AI. They emphasized that using AI could both improve and challenge the way healthcare and social services are provided, but the main goal should be to make life better for people. Among the principal challenges of using AI are the utilization of data and the potential reduction of jobs due to task optimization. Simonofski et al. (2022) also scrutinized the legal requirements od data pro- tection in public administration in the area of fraud analytics with advanced technologies. They examined two case studies and summarized 15 different governance practices in this field. They accentuated the complexity of the in- tegration a legal requirements that would be in line with advanced analytics. A further challenge in employing AI technologies represents the protection of personal data and the application of administrative law. Furthermore, Busuioc (2021) researched the use of AI algorithms in the public sector in connection with ensuring accountability for decisions. The author employed conceptual analysis to diagnose and analyse the challenges and re- sponsibilities associated with the use of AI (accountability) in the public sector and underscored the importance of interpretable and transparent AI models. Additionally, McDonald et al. (2022) addressed the area of research and the future of research in public administration. They reflected on the state of pub- lic administration research and analysed the methodology used in that field. They noted that technology could significantly impact how governments re- spond to emerging changes, which could represent a further potential area of research. Vogl et al. (2020) also explored the use of smart technologies at the local level of public administration. In their study, they used questionnaires and inter- views with employees in local public administration. They found that the use Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 81 Analysis of Research on Artificial Intelligence in Public Administration: Literature Review and Textual Analysis of smart technologies in local public administration was on the rise. Smart technologies are becoming part of the process in providing public services, which may result in certain changes. Moreover, Terzidou (2022) investigated the use of AI in the judiciary. Specifi- cally, she examined the transition from the use of information and communica- tion technologies (ICT) to the use of AI. Although she emphasized that the use of AI may present certain benefits, especially in terms of improved efficiency and better accessibility of judicial services, she also mentioned disadvantages that need to be addressed with the implantation of regulatory rules. The key risks are primarily related to the independence and impartiality of the courts. In another study, Bodó and Janssen (2022) explored the impact of private technological systems in the public sector on citizens’ trust in the govern- ment. They conducted a critical assessment and analysis of various aspects of technology and trust in the public sector. They found that when technology fails, it can significantly influence citizens’ trust in the state. In their study, AI was mainly understood in connection with the use of technology. Furthermore, Hartmann and Wenzelburger (2021) investigated the applica- tion of algorithms and computer models to support decision-making process- es within the U.S. public administration – criminal justice. They conducted a case study based on the review of primary sources and interviews with ex- perts. The results of the study showed that decision-making with the help of algorithmic methods was popular mainly because of the prior uncertainty of outcomes, the consequent dispersion of responsibility for negative con- sequences of decisions, because of the help of algorithmic methods, it is not such an important factor. Thus, the careful consideration of legal, social, and ethical aspects is important when using AI systems. Grimmelikhuijsen (2021) also explored the effect of algorithms on perceived trust in automated decision-making. Experimental testing of two scenarios showed that explainability of algorithmic decision-making is more important for trust. Similarly, Wenzelburger et al. (2022) examined how people accept algorithms used in the public sector and issue of context. They conducted two case studies with surveys completed by over 2,600 people from Germa- ny. Their research results also indicated that people accept algorithms more if they are solving a problem of personal importance and if they trust the or- ganization using them. Moreover, Giest and Klievink (2022) analysed two cases and explored the in- fluence of AI on bureaucrats roles within public administration in different organizational contexts by focusing mainly on the impact of AI on innovation in the public sector. They found that there was pronounced administrative- process innovation, in other words, a change in the organizational structure and tasks of employees. In one case, there was also conceptual innovation be- cause the AI system handled a specific task faster, more accurately, and more efficiently than a human could have. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202382 Nejc Lamovšek The interaction between humans and AI in decision-making in the public sec- tor was also studied by Alon-Barkat and Busuioc (2023) in three experimental studies. Their research primarily dealt with the aspect of automating bias and selective adherence to decisions and advice from AI or algorithms when they align with group stereotypes. They emphasised understanding the function- ing of algorithmic shortcomings when used to assist decision-making for al- ready vulnerable and disadvantaged citizens in the public sector. Additionally, Pencheva et al. (2020), through a review of scientific literature in the field of public administration, investigated the transformational impact of big data and AI on governance around the world. They observed a benefits of big data and AI on policy cycle, especially in terms of increasing accuracy, efficiency, and speed of the policy-making process due to Big Data – AI usage. Similarly, Castelnovo and Sorrentino (2021) addressed the impacts of big data and AI on government role in their research, which used a conceptual approach. They noted that big data can help to achieve significant improve- ments in policymaking and the provision of public services. However, we think that governments need to be careful and plan ahead when dealing with the issues of Big Data and AI. With this critical evaluation of existing literature, we can improve our under- standing of the gaps and shortcomings in this subject. 3 Methods We methodologically designed this study as an identification and selection of scientific literature in the field of AI in public administration, a literature review of analysed articles with an emphasis on the research area under in- vestigation (presented in the literature overview of selected articles), a deter- mination of the most frequently used terms in the corpus of articles, and an identification of the positive and negative connotations of the article’s texts. We focused on using the Web of Science (WoS) database because our aim was to demonstrate the utility of digital tools in analysing a limited set of scien- tific articles indexed in one of the major databases. We also decided to limit the data to the last 5 years, which enabled us to analyse the latest research trends and developments in the selected period. This approach ensured the relevance and timeliness of the acquired data while also allowing for the ef- fective use of digital tools for analysis and interpretation of the gathered in- formation. Articles that met all the criteria below (applied to the WoS data- base) and were freely accessible (accessed through the Educational Research Institute network) in the WoS database or from the publisher were used for further text analysis: – Keywords: artificial intelligence and public administration in all WoS data- bases (ALL); – Publication years: 2018–2022; Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 83 Analysis of Research on Artificial Intelligence in Public Administration: Literature Review and Textual Analysis – Languages: English; – Countries/regions: EU; – Document types: Article or review article; – WoS categories: Public administration. There are various digital tools available for analyzing scientific texts, includ- ing fairly traditional ones such as VOSviewer (VOSviewer, 2023) and those used for classic quantitative bibliographic analysis. Our objective was to visu- alize text with a deep understanding of semantics and content analysis, so we sought tools that were generally accessible, free of charge, user friendly, and required less technical expertise compared to, for example, NVivo and Bibli- oshiny. Consequently, we determined Voyant Tools (Voyant Tools, 2023) and ChatGPT-4 (OpenAI, 2023b) to be suitable choices. The 19 scientific articles, which were freely accessible, were analysed using Voyant Tools. Voyant Tools is a freely accessible, web-based program for tex- tual analysis of text. With Voyant Tools, it is possible to analyse documents in different languages because it supports analysis in any language because it operates on character sequences (Voyant Tools, 2023). Our analysis encom- passed the entire content of each article. We first identified 25 terms that appeared most frequently across the entirety of the article corpus, namely, the keywords. During the analysis, we excluded irrelevant words, and, among the first 25 terms, we tried to combine words with the same roots. We also determined the frequency of occurrence of the first 25 individual terms that denoted positive and negative connotations. The frequency of occurrence of positive and negative connotations was determined using the word base of Voyant Tools. Determining the positive and negative connotations in texts is important because it can help identify the authors’ and the scientific commu- nity’s perspectives on a specific topic, for example, perception and potential receptiveness to AI technologies. In ChatGPT-4, using the appropriate and available PDF plugin (Ai PDF), we analysed-interact with 19 freely accessible scientific articles. Furthermore, we created and used prompts2 following the principles outlined in “Best Prac- tices for Prompt Engineering with OpenAI API” (OpenAI, 2023a). According to these guidelines, prompts should be concise, precise, and elaborative. The analysis using prompts was divided into two steps: 1. Searching for the most frequent terms in the corpus of scientific articles. Example prompt: Analyse the entire content of the provided scientific ar- ticles in PDF format and identify the five most frequently occurring terms, focusing on key terminology. Please ensure that the results are based sole- ly on the actual content of the articles, without conjecture or fabrication of data. 2. Using prompts that focused on determining the general connotation of the entire corpus of text. Example prompt: Determine the general text 2 As Reynolds and McDonell (2021) pointed out, a prompt is an instruction to the GPT chat on how to perform a specific task. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202384 Nejc Lamovšek connotation of the entire content of the provided scientific articles in PDF format, analysing the overall tone, sentiment, and thematic elements. En- sure that the interpretation is based strictly on the content provided, with- out any conjecture or fabricated results. 4 Results 4.1 Results of Literature Identification and Selection Only 22 scientific articles met the search criteria in WoS, and they are present- ed in Table 1. In terms of WoS categories, all 22 of the articles fell within the category of public administration. Six were also categorized under political science, two under management, and one under social sciences interdiscipli- nary. In relation to research areas, all 22 articles related to public administra- tion, six to government law, two to business economics, and one to social sciences other topics. From the subsequent textual analysis, we excluded three scientific articles due to lack of public accessibility, leaving a total of 19 articles for textual analysis. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 85 Analysis of Research on Artificial Intelligence in Public Administration: Literature Review and Textual Analysis Ta b le 1 . R es ul ts o f Li te ra tu re Id en ti fi ca ti o n an d S el ec ti o n A ut ho rs A rt ic le T it le So ur ce T it le P ub lic at io n Y ea r Ea rl y A cc es s D at e W ir tz , B . W ., & M ül le r, W . M . A n In te gr at ed A rt ifi ci al In te lli ge nc e Fr am ew o rk f o r P ub lic M an ag em en t Pu bl ic M an ag em en t R ev ie w 20 19 W ir tz , B . W ., W ey er er , J . C ., & St ur m , B . J . Th e D ar k Si d es o f A rt ifi ci al In te lli ge nc e: A n In te gr at ed A I G o ve rn an ce F ra m ew o rk f o r P ub lic A d m in is tr at io n In te rn at io na l J ou rn al o f Pu bl ic A dm in is tr at io n 20 20 St ef an is in o va , N ., M ut ho va , N . J ., St ra ng fe ld o va , J ., & Su la jo va , K . Im p le m en ta ti o n an d A p p lic at io n o f A rt ifi ci al In te lli ge nc e in S el ec te d P ub lic S er vi ce s C ro at ia n an d C om pa ra ti ve Pu bl ic A dm in is tr at io n 20 21 W ir tz , B . W ., La ng er , P . F ., & Fe nn er , C . A rt ifi ci al In te lli ge nc e in t he P ub lic S ec to r - A R es ea rc h A ge nd a In te rn at io na l J ou rn al o f Pu bl ic A dm in is tr at io n 20 21 8/ 20 21 W ir tz , B . W ., W ey er er , J . C ., & G ey er , C . A rt ifi ci al In te lli ge nc e an d t he P ub lic S ec to r- A p p lic at io ns a nd C ha lle ng es In te rn at io na l J ou rn al o f Pu bl ic A dm in is tr at io n 20 19 Si m o no fs ki , A ., To m b al , T ., D e Te rw an gn e, C ., W ill em , P ., Fr en ay , B ., & J an ss en , M . B al an ci ng F ra ud A na ly ti cs W it h Le ga l R eq ui re m en ts : G o ve rn an ce P ra ct ic es a nd T ra d e- O ff s in P ub lic A d m in is tr at io ns D at a & P ol ic y 20 22 B us ui o c, M . A cc o un ta b le A rt ifi ci al In te lli ge nc e: H o ld in g A lg o ri th m s to A cc o un t Pu bl ic A dm in is tr at io n R ev ie w 20 21 11 /2 02 0 M cD o na ld , B . D ., H al l, J. L ., O ’F ly nn , J ., & T hi el , S . Th e Fu tu re o f P ub lic A d m in is tr at io n R es ea rc h: A n Ed it o r’ s P er sp ec ti ve Pu bl ic A dm in is tr at io n 20 22 1/ 20 22 V o gl , T . M ., Se id el in , C ., G an es h, B ., & B ri gh t, J . Sm ar t Te ch no lo gy a nd t he E m er ge nc e o f A lg o ri th m ic B ur ea uc ra cy : A rt ifi ci al In te lli ge nc e in U K L o ca l A ut ho ri ti es Pu bl ic A dm in is tr at io n R ev ie w 20 20 Te rz id o u, K . Th e U se o f A rt ifi ci al In te lli ge nc e in t he J ud ic ia ry a nd It s C o m p lia nc e w it h th e R ig ht t o a F ai r Tr ia l Jo ur na l o f Ju di ci al A dm in is tr at io n 20 22 B o d o , B ., & J an ss en , H . M ai nt ai ni ng T ru st in a T ec hn o lo gi ze d P ub lic S ec to r Po lic y an d So ci et y 20 22 5/ 20 22 H o ff m an , I ., & K ar p iu k, M . E- A d m in is tr at io n in P o lis h an d H un ga ri an M un ic ip al it ie s - A C o m p ar at iv e A na ly si s o f th e R eg ul at o ry Is su es Le x Lo ca lis -J ou rn al o f Lo ca l Se lf -G ov er nm en t 20 22 Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202386 Nejc Lamovšek A utho rs A rticle Title So urce Title P ublicatio n Y ear Early A ccess D ate H artm ann, K ., & W enzelb urger, G . U ncertainty, R isk and the U se o f A lgo rithm s in P o licy D ecisio ns: A C ase Stud y o n C rim inal Justice in the U SA Policy Sciences 2021 1/2021 G iest, S. N ., & K lievink, B . M o re Than a D igital System : H o w A I Is C hanging the R o le o f B ureaucrats in D iff erent O rganizatio nal C o ntexts Public M anagem ent R eview 2022 7/2022 A lo n-B arkat, S., & B usuio c, M . H um an-A I Interactio ns in P ub lic Secto r D ecisio n M aking: A uto m atio n B ias and Selective A d herence to A lgo rithm ic A d vice Journal of Public A dm inistration R esearch and Theory 2023 2/2022 W enzelb urger, G ., K o nig, P . D ., Felfeli, J., & A chtziger, A . A lgo rithm s in the P ub lic Secto r. W hy C o ntext M atters Public A dm inistration 2022 12/2022 P encheva, I., Esteve, M ., & M ikhaylo v, S. J. B ig D ata and A I - A Transfo rm atio nal Shift fo r G o vernm ent: So , W hat N ext fo r R esearch? Public Policy and A dm inistration 2020 K im , S., A nd ersen, K . N ., & Lee, J. W . P latfo rm G o vernm ent in the Era o f Sm art Techno lo gy Public A dm inistration R eview 2022 8/2021 C astelno vo , W ., & So rrentino , M . The N o d ality D isco nnect o f D ata-D riven G o vernm ent A dm inistration & Society 2021 3/2021 G rim m elikhuijsen, S. Exp laining W hy the C o m p uter Says N o : A lgo rithm ic Transp arency A ff ects the P erceived Trustw o rthiness o f A uto m ated D ecisio n-M aking Public A dm inistration R eview 2023 6/2022 W irtz, B . W ., & M üller, W . M . A n Integrative C o llab o rative Eco system fo r Sm art C ities - A Fram ew o rk fo r O rganizatio nal G o vernance International Journal of Public A dm inistration 2023 3/2022 C o m p to n, M . E., Yo ung, M . M ., B ullo ck, J. B ., & G reer, R . A d m inistrative Erro rs and R ace: C an Techno lo gy M itigate Ineq uitab le A d m inistrative O utco m es? Journal of Public A dm inistration R esearch and Theory 2023 9/2022 So urce: Tab le w as p ro d uced via W o S, 2023 Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 87 Analysis of Research on Artificial Intelligence in Public Administration: Literature Review and Textual Analysis 4.2 Results of the Textual Data Analysis Using Voyant Tools In Table 2 below, we have identified the first 25 terms that most frequently appeared in the entire corpus of article texts. The terms “public” and “AI” were the most common, which is expected given the research theme. The word “AI” was the second most frequently used term in the analysed arti- cles, but the terms “artificial” and “intelligence” were also listed separately. Therefore, these terms can be combined differently, for example, as “artificial neural network,” “artificial discretion,” “intelligence technologies,” or “intel- ligence techniques.” The term “algorithms” also appeared as “algorithm” and was combined into a unified form “algorithms” for the purpose of analysis, ranking as the fourth most frequently used term in the analysed text. Table 2. First 25 Terms That Most Frequently Appeared in the Corpus of Article Texts Term Count public 2,099 ai 1,776 data 1,479 algorithms 805 administration 701 decision 686 research 640 intelligence 604 use 563 human 545 artificial 540 systems 533 sector 514 Term Count policy 509 risk 497 algorithmic 483 government 482 making 443 technology 431 information 419 social 417 review 413 big 398 governance 396 services 338 Source: Own 4.3 Frequency of Words with a Positive Connotation In the corpus of scientific articles, the terms “intelligence” (n = 604) and “trust” (n = 275) were most frequently used as terms with a positive connotation (Table 3). “Trust,” “ethical,” and “trustworthiness” also appeared on this list. Although these terms themselves carry positive connotations, the context in which they are used in texts is also crucial. For instance, when discussing a lack of trust or ethical issues in trustworthiness, words can convey a negative meaning in a text even though the Voyant Tools word database would classify these words as positively connotated. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202388 Nejc Lamovšek Table 3. First 25 Terms with a Positive Connotation Term Count intelligence 604 trust 275 smart 250 well 228 work 203 important 173 support 157 available 124 innovation 120 ethical 117 benefits 110 right 106 significant 77 Term Count advanced 75 integrated 73 better 71 creative 68 like 67 trustworthiness 62 regard 62 fairness 62 protection 58 improve 58 selective 55 fair 52 Source: Own 4.4 Frequency of Words with a Negative Connotation In the corpus of scientific articles, the terms “risk” (n = 497) and “bias” (n = 265) were most frequently used as terms with a negative connotation (Table 4). The word “issue” also appeared in the form “issues,” so we combined them into a unified form “issue.” Similarly, the term “bias” appeared in the forms “biases” and “biased,” so in the analysis, we combined them into a unified form “bias.” Unlike the list of terms with a positive connotation, in this list, it is harder to attribute an opposite positive meaning to the terms. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 89 Analysis of Research on Artificial Intelligence in Public Administration: Literature Review and Textual Analysis Table 4. First 25 Terms with a Negative Connotation Term Count risk 497 bias 265 fraud 234 problem 151 issues 147 criminal 90 complex 71 lack 71 limited 57 concerns 54 negative 50 critical 50 blame 47 Term Count discrimination 46 scandal 45 limitations 44 cancer 44 concern 36 regression 27 vice 25 manipulation 25 crime 24 discriminatory 22 error 21 limitation 20 Source: Own 4.5 Collocates Graph Figure 1 below shows the networking of word connections. The central part displays some of the keywords while the co-occurring terms are marked in orange and show the occurrences of terms in the context of the keywords. In our analysis, we noted that when using the term “use,” the terms “rules” and “conditions” often co-occurred, indicating that they were important when de- fining conditions and rules for the use of AI. Figure 1. Collocates Graph of Word Connections ai public sector systems challenges administration data use conditions rules decision review research policy big applications analytics fraud legal case processing information Source: Figure was produced via Voyant Tools. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202390 Nejc Lamovšek 4.6 Analysis of the Article Corpus with ChatGPT-4 Dated August 21, 2023 ChatGPT-4 identified the five most frequently used words in the corpus of articles as the following (response on key-word prompt): – Artificial – Intelligence – Technology – Public – Management ChatGPT-4 then responded to the given connotation prompt. Specifically, ChatGPT-4 identified that the texts in all 19 articles exhibited a diversity of topics and connotations. The scientific texts concentrated on various areas such as AI, technology, management, societal and ethical aspects, and chal- lenges associated with them. The connotations of the texts were a blend of positive and negative aspects, reflecting diverse perspectives addressed within the corpus. ChatGPT-4 also noted that positive connotations were evi- dent in descriptions of intelligent systems, technological advancements, trust in technology, and good work and approaches to management. Conversely, ChatGPT-4 established that negative connotations related to risks, bias, fraud, problems, and challenges encountered in the implementation of these solu- tions. The ChatGTP-4 analysis concluded that the overall picture of the ana- lysed documents was balanced because the corpus of articles engaged with both positive and potentially negative aspects of the use of AI and technology in management and society at large. 4.7 Analysis of the Content of Selected Articles Our brief review of the literature, as presented in the literature overview of selected articles, revealed a very broad scope of AI application in public ad- ministration. We found that researchers focused on both the advantages of using AI and the potential problems and threats associated with its use. Par- ticularly, researchers emphasized aspects of simplifying work processes and thereby optimizing operational workflows as well as ethical considerations and the protection of personal data. Overall, the researchers seemed to pre- sent a balanced view of all aspects of AI usage. 5 Discussion Both research tools we used employ algorithms in their analyses, but, as Alhu- dithi (2021) pointed out, Voyant Tools focuses primarily on the frequency of occurrence of certain terms and the further visualization of them. In contrast, ChatGPT-4 is an advanced language model intended for natural language processing, which also understands the meaning, content, and context of the analysed text (Moshirfar et al., 2023). Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 91 Analysis of Research on Artificial Intelligence in Public Administration: Literature Review and Textual Analysis For our analysis of the entire content of selected scientific articles, we used both Voyant Tools and ChatGPT-4. We deepened the analysis by preparing short reviews of the articles’ content in collaboration with ChatGPT-4, reviews integrated an important human factor into the analysis. Thus, our analysis of the texts’ connotations via ChatGPT-4 plus our human analysis could offer the full meaning of the texts, which is important for a thorough analysis. On the contrary, Voyant Tools lacks this option. Voyant Tools searches for the occur- rence of individual terms in the texts that have a positive or negative connota- tion but does not understand the broader meaning of the entire text. Voyant Tools identified the terms “public,” “AI,” “data,” “algorithms,” and “administration” as the most frequently used in the corpus of articles. Con- sequently, it is evident that thorough understanding of these terms is vital when dealing with the use of AI in public administration. In our analysis of terms that often co-occurred with the keywords, we found the terms “use,” “rules,” and “conditions” often co-occurred. This result likely indicates that re- searchers often research and write about setting rules and conditions (i.e., regulations) when talking about the use of AI. Indeed, this is a very frequent topic in the scientific literature. For one, Wirtz et al. (2019) emphasized that regulation is one of the main challenges in the use of AI. Furthermore, in June 2023, the EU Parliament adopted the negotiating positions for regulating AI in the EU. The regulation would ensure transparent operation of AI and pro- vide privacy and security for users as well as human oversight of AI operations (European Parliament, 2023). Positive connotations generally occur when describing intelligent systems and technological advancements, and negative connotations when dealing with words related to risks and bias. In the literature review, we noted that the term “trust” was used mainly from the perspective of questioning the trustworthiness of AI. However, Voyant Tools marked it as a word that de- notes a positive connotation even though the actual meaning in the text was more negative. Also, among words with negative connotations, the terms “issue” and “bias” often appeared. This finding connects with research from Alon-Barkat and Busuioc (2023) who warned about the issues of automating bias and selective adherence to decisions and advice from AI or algorithms when they align with group stereotypes. Therefore, human control of deci- sions made with AI is important, and the type of texts on which AI learns is also crucial. We noted that the analysis of texts in terms of positive and negative con- notations reflected a very complex and diverse field of AI use in the public sector. Moreover, our literature review found similar observations to those in the connotation analysis with ChatGPT-4, specifically, that researchers deal with both positive and negative consequences of the use and implementation of AI in the public sector. As Giest and Klievink (2022) stated, the execution of certain tasks can be faster and more efficient with AI, but the use of AI is always linked to the use of technology (Bodó & Janssen, 2022), so it is impor- tant to also consider risks such as the protection of personal data (Simonofski et al., 2022) and ethics in using AI (Wirtz et al., 2019). Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202392 Nejc Lamovšek Through a review of the literature, we also recognized the need for establish- ing rules and regulations in the field of AI, but we are aware that it is difficult to halt the progress of technology, and, in our opinion, halting the develop- ment of technology and AI would even be inappropriate. For example, the use of algorithms in connection with AI is significant in the field of medical science. Indeed, Wenzelburger et al. (2022) noted that algorithms are used in predicting skin cancer. Furthermore, AI technology allows detailed text analyses, as evident in our research. The results of using intelligent tools for analysis can provide different and broader insights into the subject matter, which can contribute to increased quality of life and development of science. In analysing the results, we also noticed that Voyant Tools and ChatGPT-4 classified keywords differently to a certain extent. Such differences may be the result of the different algorithms each analysis tool uses. For instance, ChatGPT-4 takes semantics into account, understands the context of terms, and considers various linguistic nuances of the text. The actual prompts can also influence outcomes with ChatGPT-4 depending on how the program understands an instruction. For example, instructions determine whether it searches for words in the text that are identical or for words that have a simi- lar meaning. Moreover, PDF plugins for use with ChatGPT-4 can segment and analyse the text in parts, or they can just summarize it to a certain extent (ChatGPT-4 has important limitations in the amount of data processed). One of the negative aspects of the literature review made in collaboration with ChatGPT-4 is the possibility of hallucination, i.e., the cosmetic reinterpretation of the actual state - the result of the analyzed scientific articles. This should be pointed out to the readers of our article, and readers should consider this in the final interpretation of the literature summary and highlight this issue. Similarly, technological advancements in the use of digital tools could influ- ence the accuracy of our results. For example, we noticed that during the ar- ticle review period, OpenAI (the provider of ChatGPT-4) offered updated and more advanced chat features, such as advanced data analysis, browse with Bing, and Dalle-E 3 (photo generation). Finally, the way each tool is used can influence the results. For instance, when we excluded meaningless words and combined words with the same root via Voyant Tools, we affected the results of the analysis. All the mentioned shortcomings of digital tools could have significantly im- pacted the results of our analysis. For a more detailed explanation, we would need to examine the background functioning of the algorithms of both tools. 6 Conclusions Analysis and research of texts with so-called digital smart tools can help us understand the deeper meaning of a text and can emphasize individual el- ements that are significant in addressing a particular subject matter. These analyses could influence the overall advancement of society and the develop- ment of science. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 93 Analysis of Research on Artificial Intelligence in Public Administration: Literature Review and Textual Analysis Textual analysis emphasizes individual keywords that are important in the subject being discussed and the general connotation of the text, which may indicate factors for or against the use of AI technology in the field of public administration. Terms that co-occur with keywords can express certain addi- tional views that need to be considered in the analysis. In our case, the terms “rules” and “conditions” were connected with the key word “use,” which may indicate a strong necessity for the regulation of the AI field and perhaps an indication and incentive for regulators in shaping policies for the use of AI in public administration. However, the weaknesses of this study were the limited number of scientific articles we analysed, possible hallucination of ChatGPT-4 and the overrepre- sentation of certain authors among those articles. Moreover, we included the entire text of each article in our analysis; for further research, we suggest re- moving individual parts of the article, such as references. This modification can change the determination of keywords and the general connotations of the text. Further research could also expand the selection of analysed re- search articles by using other databases of scientific literature and comparing research among individual countries. 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The Innovation, 2(4), 100179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. xinn.2021.100179 97 2591-2259 / This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ DOI: 10.17573/cepar.2023.2.05 1.01 Original scientific article Analysis of Workaholism and Burnout Among Employees of Administrative Units and Two Selected Banks in Slovenia Tatjana Kozjek University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Public Administration, Slovenia tatjana.kozjek@fu.uni-lj.si https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5626-8319 Anja Bandelj University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Public Administration, Slovenia anja.bandelj@gmail.com https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6586-5062 Received: 20. 2. 2023 Revised: 17. 7. 2023 Accepted: 15. 10. 2023 Published: 30. 11. 2023 ABSTRACT Purpose: Workaholism and burnout can have detrimental effects on both employees and organisations in both the private and public sectors, and therefore calls for further research. The objective of this survey was to statistically analyse significant differences in the variables of worka- holism and burnout (including emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and personal efficiency) between administrative units and two selected banks, among participants employed in managerial and non-managerial positions, and across genders. Additionally, the survey aimed to analyse the correlations between workaholism, emotional exhaustion, deperson- alisation, and personal efficiency. The research involved 621 employees from 58 administrative units and 404 employees from two selected (pri- vate) banks in Slovenia. Design/Methodology/Approach: Various methodological approaches were used, including statistical tests such as multivariate and factor anal- ysis, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk tests, the Mann-Whitney U test, and Spearman’s rank-order correlation coefficient. Findings: Survey results revealed no statistically significant differences in the variables of workaholism and burnout between administrative units and the two selected banks, among participants employed in manage- rial and non-managerial positions, and across genders. However, the re- search uncovered a strong positive correlation between workaholism and emotional exhaustion, a weak positive correlation between workaholism Kozjek, T., Bandelj, A. (2023). Analysis of Workaholism and Burnout Among Employees of Administrative Units and Two Selected Banks in Slovenia. Central European Public Administration Review, 21(2), pp. 97–118 Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/202398 Tatjana Kozjek, Anja Bandelj and depersonalisation, and a slight negative correlation between worka- holism and personal efficiency. Originality/Value: The research contributes to the growing awareness of workaholism and burnout, offering organisations valuable insights to address these issues and enhance employee well-being. Furthermore, it adds to the existing literature on workaholism and burnout within the context of Slovenia. Keywords: administrative units, banks, burnout, workaholism, Slovenia JEL: I10 1 Introduction Work is of key importance for adults, as it enables them to earn a salary, and develop personally; it also encourages the development of new skills and knowledge, shapes the relationships between fellow human beings as well as gives a sense of well-being, meaning, dignity, and self-worth. Employees are driven by both internal and external motives, but employees fail to set bound- aries in some cases and work too much. Thus, employees may unknowingly become workaholics (Andreassen, 2014). In recent years, the number of stud- ies devoted to the study of workaholism, and burnout, has increased. Accord- ing to Workaholism facts and statistics (Holewa, 2023), 46% of European em- ployees deal with severe time pressure or work overload. Even though there are occupations where overtime work is not necessary, it is also expected by employers. Furthermore, financial and insurance services and public adminis- tration and safety services are listed among the ten hard-working industries, namely in fifth and tenth place. Excessive work or workaholism can lead to burnout, which manifests itself in the workplace as emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and personal inefficiency (Maslach et al., 1997; Maslach and Leiter, 2002). According to (Schaufeli, 2018), the European countries with the highest burnout levels are eastern (Poland) and south-eastern coun- tries (Albania, Turkey, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, and Macedonia). Since Slovenia is listed among European countries that have the highest levels of burnout, and financial and public services are listed among the ten hard- working industries, the presented research aimed to analyse differences be- tween workaholism and three dimensions of burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and personal efficiency) among employees in the adminis- trative units and two selected banks in Slovenia. The two banks were selected based on the number of employees so that the number of employees at the banks was approximately the same as the number of employees at the ad- ministrative units. The research aims to contribute to rising awareness about workaholism and burnout and to the existing literature on workaholism and burnout within the Slovenian context. The article first presents the theoretical framework of workaholism and burn- out which was the basis for the formation of hypotheses. The next section Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 99 Analysis of Workaholism and Burnout Among Employees of Administrative Units and Two Selected Banks in Slovenia includes the presentation of the sample and used methods. This is followed by a presentation of results, the testing of hypotheses, a discussion, and find- ings and proposals. 2 Theoretical Bases for Forming the Hypotheses Uncontrollable need for constant work or addiction to work that is unmanage- able or the behavioural pattern (Scott, Moore and Miceli, 1997) or so termed workaholism is a disease that is like alcohol addiction or alcoholism. It occurs due to the avoidance of problems, impaired self-esteem, consequences of childhood trauma (Seybold and Salomone, 1994; Clark et al, 2016), the need for control in one’s life (Cantarow, 1979), the pursuit of success, competi- tiveness (Seybold and Salomone, 1994), the cost of putting children through school, saving for retirement (Kozjek, 2014). Workaholism occurs when an employee works more than the expected demands of his or her job (Clark et al, 2016). Addiction to work is difficult to overcome, because, unlike other ad- dictions, those who are addicted to work are usually unaware of it; moreover, their dedication makes them work more and more. The deeper the addiction, the more serious, intense, and lasting the consequences, and the greater the risks to a person’s overall well-being; the individual experiences various physi- cal, behavioural, emotional, and social consequences (Humphreys, 2000, Bal- ducci et al, 2018). The consequence of workaholism on the individual level is also burnout, which represents gradual emotional exhaustion and loss of motivation in people who have worked with great dedication and enthusiasm (Bakker, Demerouti and Sanz-Vergel, 2014), a decline in values, dignity, spirit, and will (Maslach and Leiter, 2002). The World Health Organization (WHO, 2020), Stare et al. (2012), and Cole et al. (2012) define burnout as an occupa- tional phenomenon resulting from chronic stress that (in the workplace) has not been successfully managed. Kaiser, Richardsen and Martinussen (2021) in their research identified, with multiple regression, that job demands are the most important predictors of burnout. Swider and Zimmerman (2010), and Balducci et al (2018) add that it includes chronic emotional and interpersonal stressors experienced by individuals at work and their subsequent responses to work tasks, organisations, co-workers, clients, and themselves. Halbesle- ben & Buckley (2004) argue that burnout is a psychological syndrome that manifests itself as emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and reduced ef- ficiency. According to Cordes and Dougherty (1993) and Witt, Andrews and Carlson (2004), emotional exhaustion is the feeling that a person´s emotional resources are becoming drained, and that person lacks energy. Depersonalisa- tion is according to Cohen (2004), a feeling of detachment from one´s self or if somebody is leaving in a dream or like automation. Längle, Orgler and Kundi (2003) define personal efficiency as the meaning of life and openness to con- siderable existential values, going through a sensible, authentic, responsible life in general. As Cole et al (2012) argued, the consequences of burnout do not only harm the individual but are felt by everyone in any way related to the person experiencing burnout, therefore it should be researched. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023100 Tatjana Kozjek, Anja Bandelj According to Amigo et al. (2014) and Dias and Angélico (2018), burnout is most prevalent among those employees whose working hours are longer than 40 hours per week and those who have direct contact with clients at their work. The research of Mar, Soklić & Buzeti (2022) shows that work during non-work time (at different times of the day, at weekends, and during their annual and sick leave) is a growing phenomenon among employees in private and public sectors; they also found that such work is particularly common for employees in managerial positions and for professionals in education, health, and police services, as well as for employees engaged in remote work. The re- sults of the study of Schaufeli, van Wijhe, Peeters, and Taris (2011) show that workaholism and the possibility of employees becoming burnt out are more prevalent among employees (in both managerial and non-managerial jobs) in private sector organisations, especially due to competition in the market and greater opportunities for monetary rewards for employees. Özsoy (2018) compared the level of workaholism of public and private sector employees and found that workaholism occurs in both managerial and non-managerial positions but is more common in managerial positions as they bring more responsibility and decisions are more strategic and complex. Based on the findings, the following hypotheses were formulated: H1: There are statistically significant differences in the variables of workaholism and burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and personal efficiency) between administrative units and the two selected banks. H2: There are statistically significant differenc- es in the variables of workaholism and burnout (emotional exhaustion, deperson- alisation, and personal efficiency) between participants employed in managerial and non-managerial positions. Furthermore, the results of Snir and Harpaz (2006) and Burke, Davis, and Flett (2008) show that there are differences in workaholism between men and women. Beiler-May et al (2017) argue that workaholism among women is underestimated due to cultural norms. According to traditional expectations regarding gender roles, men are supposed to work and provide financial sup- port to the family, while women are supposed to do most of the household chores and take care of the children (Kozjek, Mali and Umek, 2021). Dudek and Szpitalak (2019) found that women are also prone to workaholism since they often have to prove that they can perform assigned tasks just as well as men to succeed in their professional lives. Similarly, Burke (1999) stated that women exhibit a higher level of perfectionism, which could be one of the causes of workaholism by women. Behson (2002) also stated that work- aholism is higher in women than in men. Contrary, Snir and Harpaz (2006) found that workaholism, determined based on the number of hours worked per week, is more prevalent in men than in women. Based on these findings it was assumed that H3: There are statistically significant differences between variables of workaholism and burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and personal efficiency) between male and female participants. Studies that measured the correlation between employee workaholism and burnout in the world (Cheung et al, 2018; Judež, 2018; Staszczyk and Tokarz, 2017; Schaufeli et al, 2008; and Taylor et al, 2018) have shown that there is Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 101 Analysis of Workaholism and Burnout Among Employees of Administrative Units and Two Selected Banks in Slovenia a correlation between workaholism and burnout. Cheung et al (2018) found that workaholism is positively correlated with emotional exhaustion and dep- ersonalisation and negatively correlated with feelings of personal efficiency. According to previous research, it was assumed that: H4: There is a positive correlation between workaholism and emotional exhaustion and depersonalisa- tion and a negative correlation between workaholism and personal efficiency at administrative units and two selected banks. 3 Sample and Methods Employees from all 58 administrative units (621 participants) and employees from two selected banks (404 participants) participated in the survey, but they were not named to ensure anonymity. The two banks were selected ac- cording to their size so that the number of employees at the selected banks was like the number of employees at administrative units. A total of 1,025 employees from administrative units and banks responded to both surveys, therefore, the results are statistically valid for the selected organizations. The survey was conducted in the spring of 2021 (see also Bandelj, 2021). The link to the anonymous survey questionnaire was sent electronically to the official addresses of all 58 administrative units and the two selected banks with a request to forward the survey questionnaire to all employees. Of all administrative units’ employees, 621 participated in the survey, repre- senting 27% of all employees, whereby 74% (n = 462) were women and 26% (n = 159) were men. 41% of respondents at administrative units were aged 40 to 50 (41%), followed by those aged 51 to 61 (29%). 51% of respondents had a university degree, 19% had a higher education degree and 16% had a mas- ter’s degree. 18% of participants from administrative units were employed in managerial positions, and 82% were in non-managerial positions. Of all employees at both banks, 404 employees participated in the survey, which represents 27% of all employees, 82% (n = 332) of which were women and 18% (n = 72) were men. The predominant group at the banks is that aged 40 to 50 (40%), followed by the 51 to 61 age group (37%). 35% of the partici- pants had a university degree, 31% had a higher education degree and 15% had a secondary school degree. 20% of participating employees at the banks were employed in managerial positions, and 80% were in non-managerial positions. For the research, The Bergen Work Addiction Scale (BWAS) (Anderssen, 2012) and the Maslach burnout inventory (MBI-GS) (Maslach et al, 1997) question- naires were used. At The Bergen Work Addiction Scale (BWAS) scale partici- pants, on a 5-point Lickert Scale (1 – never, 2 – rarely, 3 – sometimes, 4 – often, 5 – always), had to answer ̋ how often in the last year…˝: ̋ have you thought of how you could free up your time to work˝, ˝spent much more time on work- ing than initially intended˝, ˝worked in order to reduce feelings of guilt, anxi- ety, helplessness, and depression˝, ˝have been told by others to cut down on work without listening to them˝, ˝become stressed if you have been prohibit- ed from working˝, ˝deprioritised your hobbies, leisure activities, and exercise Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023102 Tatjana Kozjek, Anja Bandelj because of your work˝, ˝ work so much that it has negatively influenced your health˝. At the Maslach burnout inventory (MBI-GS) scale, participants on a 4-point Likert scale (1 – never, 2 – rarely, 3 – frequently, 4 – daily), where higher grades mean a higher level of burnout, had to evaluate three dimensions. According to the first dimension Emotional Exhaustion, they evaluated these variables ˝I feel emotionally drained from work˝, ˝I feel exhausted at the end of the workday˝, ˝When I wake up in the morning, I feel tired because I have to go to work again˝, ˝Working all day is really tiring for me˝, ˝I feel exhausted from work˝. According to the second dimension Depersonalisation, they evaluated these variables ˝I want to do my work without being interrupted˝, ˝I am less interested in my work since I’ve been in this job˝, ˝I am less enthusiastic about my work˝, ˝I am sceptical about the contribution of my work to something˝, ˝I doubt the importance of my work˝. According to the third dimension Personal Efficiency, they evaluated these variables ̋ I feel excited when I get something done at work˝, ̋ I achieve many important things in my work˝, ̋ I can effectively solve problems that arise in my work˝, ˝I feel that I contribute something to the organization through my work˝, ˝In my opinion, I am good at what I do˝, ˝In my work, I feel confident that I am efficient and able to get things done˝. To test the variables and the hypotheses different methodological approach- es were used, namely the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk test, the Mann-Whitney U test, factor analysis, and Spearman’s rank order correlation coefficient. 4 Results The literature and sources in the field of workaholism and burnout present varied findings when comparing the public and private sectors. Generally, the findings indicate the greater presence of workaholism and burnout in organi- zations within the private sector. Therefore, in the selected sample of admin- istrative units (AU) and two selected banks, it was important to check whether statistically significant differences exist. The mean values, mean ranks, Mann- Whitney U, and statistical significance of these differences are presented in Tables 1 and 2 below. The presented findings for the variables of workaholism indicate three statis- tically significant differences between employees in banks and administrative units. The findings reveal that employees in administrative units, compared to employees in banks, report a higher level of working more than initially intended (Mean Rank = 561.37; P = 0.003), a higher level of being told by oth- ers to reduce their workload without listening to them (Mean Rank = 576.23; P <0.001), a higher level of deprioritising their hobbies, leisure activities, and exercise due to the work (Mean Rank = 554.14; P <0.001). Mean values for all variables range between 2 and 3, indicating a rare or frequent level. Addition- ally, the results may have been influenced by the Covid-19 pandemic, which leads to the organisations closure and remote work. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 103 Analysis of Workaholism and Burnout Among Employees of Administrative Units and Two Selected Banks in Slovenia Ta b le 1 : C o m p ar is o n o f th e V ar ia b le s o f W o rk ah o lis m b et w ee n em p lo ye es f ro m a d m in is tr at iv e un it s an d b an ks V ar ia bl es o f W o rk ah o lis m O rg an is at io n N M ea n R an k M an n- W hi tn ey U P H o w o ft en in t he la st y ea r ha ve y o u th o ug ht o f ho w y o u co ul d f re e up y o ur ti m e to w o rk ? B an ks 42 1 55 0. 84 13 39 47 .0 0. 34 5 A U 65 8 53 3. 07 H ow o ft en in t he la st y ea r ha ve y ou s pe nt m uc h m or e ti m e w or ki ng t ha n in it ia lly in te nd ed ? B an ks 42 1 50 6. 59 12 44 45 .0 * 0. 00 3 A U 65 8 56 1. 37 H o w o ft en in t he la st y ea r ha ve y o u w o rk ed in o rd er t o r ed uc e fe el in gs o f gu ilt , a nx ie ty , h el p le ss ne ss , a nd d ep re ss io n? B an ks 42 1 54 3. 27 13 71 31 .5 0. 77 6 A U 65 8 53 7. 91 H ow o ft en in t he la st y ea r ha ve y ou b ee n to ld b y ot he rs t o cu t do w n on w or k w it ho ut li st en in g to t he m ? B an ks 42 1 48 3. 38 11 46 71 .0 ** <0 .0 01 A U 65 8 57 6. 23 H o w o ft en in t he la st y ea r ha ve y o u b ec o m e st re ss ed if y o u ha ve b ee n p ro hi b it ed f ro m w o rk in g? B an ks 42 1 51 4. 41 12 77 34 .0 0. 02 6 A U 65 8 55 6. 38 H ow o ft en in t he la st y ea r ha ve y ou d ep ri or it is ed y ou r ho bb ie s, le is ur e ac ti vi ti es , an d ex er ci se b ec au se o f yo ur w or k? B an ks 42 1 45 8. 76 10 43 09 .0 ** <0 .0 01 A U 65 8 59 1. 98 H o w o ft en in t he la st y ea r ha ve y o u w o rk ed s o m uc h th at it h as n eg at iv el y in fl ue nc ed y o ur h ea lt h? B an ks 42 1 51 7. 90 12 92 03 .5 0. 05 5 A U 65 8 55 4. 14 So ur ce : O w n Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023104 Tatjana Kozjek, Anja Bandelj Tab le 2: C o m p ariso n o f the V ariab les o f B urno ut b etw een em p lo yees fro m ad m inistrative units and b anks V ariables o f B urno ut O rganisatio n N M ean R ank M ann- W hitney U P I feel em o tio nally d rained fro m w o rk. B anks 418 529.97 133955.0 0.643 A U 651 538.23 I feel exhausted at the end o f the w o rkd ay.  B anks 418 543.00 132716.5 0.460 A U 651 529.87 W hen I w ake up in the m o rning, I feel tired b ecause I have to go to w o rk again. B anks 418 530.98 134377.0 0.715 A U 651 537.58 W o rking all d ay is really tiring fo r m e. B anks 418 536.07 135611.0 0.921 A U 651 534.31 I feel exhausted fro m w o rk. B anks 418 540.21 133880.0 0.632 A U 651 531.65 I w ant to d o m y w o rk w itho ut b eing interrup ted . B anks 412 515.63 127359.5 0.283 A U 641 534.31 I am less interested in m y w o rk since I've b een in this jo b . B anks 412 503.88 122520.5 0.031 A U 641 541.86 I am less enthusiastic ab o ut m y w o rk. B anks 412 505.63 123240.0 0.049 A U 641 540.74 I am sceptical about the contribution of m y w ork to som ething. B anks 412 496.47 119466.5 * 0.005 A U 641 546.62 I doubt the im portance of m y w ork. B anks 412 494.77 118769.0* 0.003 A U 641 547.71 Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 105 Analysis of Workaholism and Burnout Among Employees of Administrative Units and Two Selected Banks in Slovenia V ar ia bl es o f B ur no ut O rg an is at io n N M ea n R an k M an n- W hi tn ey U P I f ee l e xc it ed w he n I g et s o m et hi ng d o ne a t w o rk . B an ks 40 7 52 2. 13 12 73 39 .0 0. 78 9 A U 63 1 51 7. 81 I a ch ie ve m an y im p o rt an t th in gs in m y w o rk . B an ks 40 7 53 9. 75 12 01 67 .5 0. 04 7 A U 63 1 50 6. 44 I c an e ff ec ti ve ly s o lv e p ro b le m s th at a ri se in m y w o rk . B an ks 40 7 53 3. 44 12 27 34 .5 0. 14 6 A U 63 1 51 0. 51 I f ee l t ha t I c o nt ri b ut e so m et hi ng t o t he o rg an iz at io n th ro ug h m y w o rk . B an ks 40 7 54 6. 15 11 75 61 .5 0. 01 1 A U 63 1 50 2. 31 In m y o p in io n, I am g o o d a t w ha t I d o . B an ks 40 7 54 7. 08 11 71 83 .5 0. 00 6 A U 63 1 50 1. 71 In m y w or k, I fe el c on fid en t th at I am e ffi ci en t an d ab le t o ge t th in gs d on e. B an ks 40 7 56 0. 24 11 18 28 .0 ** <0 .0 01 A U 63 1 49 3. 22 So ur ce : O w n Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023106 Tatjana Kozjek, Anja Bandelj The presented findings for the variables of burnout, including five variables of emotional exhaustion, five variables of depersonalisation, and six variables of personal efficiency, generally do not indicate statistically significant differ- ences between employees in banks and administrative units. However, two variables of depersonalisation and one variable of personal efficiency show significant differences. More specially, employees from the administrative units report a higher level of being sceptical about the contribution of their work to something (Mean rank = 546.62; P = 0.005) and a higher level of ex- pressing doubt about the importance of their work (Mean rank = 547.71; P = 0.003). The mean values for variables range around 2, indicating a rare level. On the other hand, employees from banks report a higher level for one vari- able of personal efficiency, namely their feeling of being confident that they are efficient and able to get things done (Mean rank = 560.24; P = <0.001). The mean value for the variable is around 3, indicating a frequent level. Based on the results of the comparison of workaholism and burnout varia- bles, hypothesis H1: ˝There are statistically significant differences in the vari- ables of workaholism and burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and personal efficiency) between administrative units and the two selected banks˝, is rejected. Despite the varied findings that indicate a higher presence of workaholism in the private sector organisation, especially due to the market competition and greater opportunities for monetary rewards for employees (e. g. Wijhe, Peeters, and Taris, 2011), the findings of the presented research conducted among Slovenian administrative units and two selected private banks do not confirm this. Additionally, the findings reveal that employees in administrative units report a higher level of working than initially intended, a higher level of being told by others to reduce their workload without listening to them, and a higher level of deprioritising their hobbies, leisure activities, and exercise due to the work. Furthermore, the results do not confirm the no- tation that employees with more client contacts experience higher levels of burnout, as Amigo et al. (2014) and Dias and Angélico (2018) found. However, these results may be influenced by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has led to an increase in remote work. The literature and sources in the field of workaholism and burnout present varied findings when comparing workaholism and burnout among manage- rial and non-managerial positions. Generally, the findings indicate the greater presence of workaholism and burnout among managers. Therefore, in the selected sample of administrative units and two selected banks, it was impor- tant to examine whether statistically significant differences exist. The mean values, mean ranks, Mann-Whitney U, and statistical significance of these dif- ferences are presented in Tables 3 and 4 below. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 107 Analysis of Workaholism and Burnout Among Employees of Administrative Units and Two Selected Banks in Slovenia Table 3: Comparison of the Variables of Workaholism between managerial and non-managerial positions Variables of Workaholism Position N Mean rank Mann- Whitney U P How often in the last year have you thought of how you could free up your time to work? Managerial 191 556.88 71266.0 0.019 Nonmanagerial 834 502.95 How often in the last year have you spent much more time working than initially intended? Managerial 191 537.95 74881.5 0.171 Nonmanagerial 834 507.29 How often in the last year have you worked in order to reduce feelings of guilt, anxiety, helplessness, and depression? Managerial 191 513.31 79588.5 0.987 Nonmanagerial 834 512.93 How often in the last year have you been told by others to cut down on work without listening to them? Managerial 191 623.92 58462.0** <0.001 Nonmanagerial 834 487.60 How often in the last year have you become stressed if you have been prohibited from working? Managerial 191 524.51 77448.5 0.540 Nonmanagerial 834 510.36 How often in the last year have you deprioritised your hobbies, leisure activities, and exercise because of your work? Managerial 191 595.59 63871.5** <0.001 Nonmanagerial 834 494.08 How often in the last year have you worked so much that it has negatively influenced your health? Managerial 191 561.61 70362.0 0.010 Nonmanagerial 834 501.87 Source: Own The presented findings for the variables of workaholism indicate two statisti- cally significant differences between managers and non-managers. More spe- cially, the findings reveal that managers report higher levels of being told by others to cut down on work without listening to them (Mean Rank = 623.92; P < 0.001), as well as a higher level of deprioritising their hobbies, leisure activi- ties, and exercise due to the work (Mean Rank = 595.59; P < 0.001). The mean values variables are between 2 and 3, indicating a rare or frequent level. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023108 Tatjana Kozjek, Anja Bandelj Table 4: Comparison of the Variables of Burnout between managerial and non-managerial positions Variables of Burnout Pos Position N Mean Rank Mann- Whitney U P I feel emotionally drained from work. Managerial 191 532.42 75937.0 0.275 Nonmanagerial 834 508.55 I feel exhausted at the end of the workday.  Managerial 191 552.52 72099.0 0.026 Nonmanagerial 834 503.95 When I wake up in the morning, I feel tired because I have to go to work again. Managerial 191 517.64 78761.0 0.797 Nonmanagerial 834 511.94 Working all day is really tiring for me. Managerial 191 471.23 71669.0 0.019 Nonmanagerial 834 522.57 I feel exhausted from work. Managerial 191 508.18 78727.0 0.787 Nonmanagerial 834 514.10 I want to do my work without being interrupted. Managerial 191 482.48 73817.0 0.082 Nonmanagerial 834 519.99 I am less interested in my work since I've been in this job. Managerial 191 477.05 72781.0 0.043 Nonmanagerial 834 521.23 I am less enthusiastic about my work. Managerial 191 485.16 74330.0 0.121 Nonmanagerial 834 519.38 I am sceptical about the contribution of my work to something. Managerial 191 480.12 73367.5 0.070 Nonmanagerial 834 520.53 I doubt the importance of my work. Managerial 191 456.58 68871.5* 0.002 Nonmanagerial 834 525.92 I feel excited when I get something done at work. Managerial 191 526.06 77153.0 0.425 Nonmanagerial 834 510.01 I achieve many important things in my work. Managerial 191 593.56 64260.5** <0.001 Nonmanagerial 834 494.55 I can effectively solve problems that arise in my work. Managerial 191 532.51 75921.5 0.223 Nonmanagerial 834 508.53 I feel that I contribute something to the organization through my work. Managerial 191 596.35 63727.0** <0.001 Nonmanagerial 834 493.91 In my opinion, I am good at what I do. Managerial 191 517.16 78852.0 0.804 Nonmanagerial 834 512.05 Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 109 Analysis of Workaholism and Burnout Among Employees of Administrative Units and Two Selected Banks in Slovenia Variables of Burnout Pos Position N Mean Rank Mann- Whitney U P In my work, I feel confident that I am efficient and able to get things done. Managerial 191 532.31 75959.5 0.246 Nonmanagerial 834 508.58 Source: Own The presented findings for the variables of burnout, which include five varia- bles of emotional exhaustion, five variables of depersonalisation, and six vari- ables of personal efficiency, generally do not indicate statistically significant differences between managers and non-managers. However, one variable of depersonalisation and two variables of personal efficiency show significant differences. More specially, non-managers report a higher level of doubting the importance of their work (Mean rank = 525.92; P = 0.002). The mean value is around 2, indicating a rare level. Additionally, managers report a higher level of feeling that they achieve many important things in their work (Mean rank = 593.56; P < 0.001), as well as they are feeling that they contribute something to the organization through their work (Mean rank = 596.35; P < 0.001). The mean values are around 3, which indicates a frequent level. Based on the results of the comparison of workaholism and burnout vari- ables, hypothesis H2: There are statistically significant differences in the vari- ables of workaholism and burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and personal efficiency) between participants employed in managerial and non-man- agerial positions˝, is rejected. Despite the varied findings indicating a higher prevalence of workaholism and burnout among managers (e. g. Schaufeli, van Wijhe, Peeters, and Taris, 2011; Özsoy, 2018), the findings of the presented research conducted among Slovenian administrative units and two selected private banks do not confirm this for managers and non-managers. Addition- ally, the findings reveal that managers report higher levels of being told by others to cut down on work without listening to them, as well as a higher level of deprioritising their hobbies, leisure activities, and exercise due to the work. Furthermore, non-managers report a higher level of doubting the importance of their work, on the other hand, managers report a higher level of feeling that they achieve many important things in their work, as well as they are feel- ing that they contribute something to the organization through their work. The literature and sources in the field of workaholism and burnout present varied findings when comparing workaholism and burnout between gen- ders. Generally, the findings indicate a greater prevalence of workaholism and burnout among women, mainly because of balancing working and pri- vate life. Therefore, in the selected sample of administrative units and two selected banks, it was important to examine whether statistically significant differences exist. The mean values, mean ranks, Mann-Whitney U, and statisti- cal significance of these differences are presented in Tables 5 and 6 below. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023110 Tatjana Kozjek, Anja Bandelj Table 5: Comparison of the Variables of Workaholism between genders Variables of Workaholism Gender N Mean Rank Mann- Whitney U P How often in the last year have you thought of how you could free up your time to work? Male 231 487.76 85876.5 0.129 Female 794 520.34 How often in the last year have you spent much more time working than initially intended? Male 231 471.39 82094.0 0.010 Female 794 525.11 How often in the last year have you worked in order to reduce feelings of guilt, anxiety, helplessness, and depression? Male 231 490.83 86586.5 0.183 Female 794 519.45 How often in the last year have you been told by others to cut down on work without listening to them? Male 231 507.28 90385.0 0.729 Female 794 514.66 How often in the last year have you become stressed if you have been prohibited from working? Male 231 488.63 86078.5 0.143 Female 794 520.09 How often in the last year have you deprioritised your hobbies, leisure activities, and exercise because of your work? Male 231 469.60 81682.5 0.009 Female 794 525.63 How often in the last year have you worked so much that it has negatively influenced your health? Male 231 437.23 74205.0** <0.001 Female 794 535.04 Source: Own The presented findings for the variables of workaholism indicate one statis- tically significant difference between genders. More specially, the findings reveal that women report higher frequencies of working so much that it has negatively influenced their health (Mean rank = 535.04; P < 0.001). The mean value is around 3, indicating a frequent level. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 111 Analysis of Workaholism and Burnout Among Employees of Administrative Units and Two Selected Banks in Slovenia Table 6: Comparison of the Variables of Burnout between genders Variables of Burnout Gender N Mean Rank Mann- Whitney U U P I feel emotionally drained from work. Male 231 457.02 78775.5** <0.001 Female 794 529.29 I feel exhausted at the end of the workday.  Male 231 457.61 78913.0** <0.001 Female 794 529.11 When I wake up in the morning, I feel tired because I have to go to work again. Male 231 452.55 77742.5** <0.001 Female 794 530.59 Working all day is really tiring for me. Male 231 463.92 80369.0* 0.002 Female 794 527.28 I feel exhausted from work. Male 231 451.02 77389.5** <0.001 Female 794 531.03 I want to do my work without being interrupted. Male 231 527.32 88399.0 0.358 Female 794 508.83 I am less interested in my work since I've been in this job. Male 231 505.11 89885.0 0.616 Female 794 515.29 I am less enthusiastic about my work. Male 231 496.54 87905.0 0.302 Female 794 517.79 I am sceptical about the contribution of my work to something. Male 231 484.97 85231.0 0.082 Female 794 521.16 I doubt the importance of my work. Male 231 469.01 81545.0 0.006 Female 794 525.80 I feel excited when I get something done at work. Male 231 507.92 90534.0 0.727 Female 794 514.48 I achieve many important things in my work. Male 231 510.95 91234.0 0.892 Female 794 513.60 I can effectively solve problems that arise in my work. Male 231 511.03 91251.5 0.889 Female 794 513.57 I feel that I contribute something to the organization through my work. Male 231 526.39 88613.5 0.388 Female 794 509.10 In my opinion, I am good at what I do. Male 231 514.96 91254.5 0.895 Female 794 512.43 Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023112 Tatjana Kozjek, Anja Bandelj Variables of Burnout Gender N Mean Rank Mann- Whitney U U P In my work, I feel confident that I am efficient and able to get things done. Male 231 533.77 86908.5 0.176Female 794 506.96 Source: Own The presented findings for the variables of burnout, which include five varia- bles of emotional exhaustion, five variables of depersonalisation, and six vari- ables of personal efficiency, generally do not indicate statistically significant differences between genders. However, significant differences were found for all variables of emotional exhaustion. Additionally, women report a high- er level of feeling emotionally drained from work (Mean rank = 529.29; P < 0.001) and feeling exhausted at the end of the workday (Mean rank = 529.11; P < 0.001). They also report a higher level of tiredness when waking up in the morning because they have to go to work (Mean rank = 530.59; P < 0.001), finding working all day to be really tiring (Mean rank = 527.28; P = 0.002), and experiencing exhaustion from work (Mean rank = 531.03; P < 0.001). The mean values range between 2 and 3, which indicates a rare or frequent level. Based on the results of the comparison of workaholism and burnout variables, hypothesis H3: There are statistically significant differences between variables of workaholism and burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and person- al efficiency) between male and female participants˝, is rejected. However, the findings indicate that women report statistically significantly higher frequen- cies of feeling emotionally exhausted. Despite the varied findings indicating a higher presence of workaholism and burnout among women (e. g. Burke, 1999; Dudek and Szpitalak, 2019), the findings of the presented research con- ducted among Slovenian administrative units and two selected private banks do not support this trend for women. Additionally, women report a higher level of feeling emotionally drained from work and feeling exhausted at the end of the workday. They also report a higher level of tiredness when waking up in the morning because they have to go to work, finding working all day to be really tiring, and experiencing exhaustion from work. The literature and sources on the correlation between employee workaholism and burnout have shown the existence of a correlation. Therefore, it was im- portant to examine whether a positive correlation between workaholism and emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation, as well as a negative correlation between workaholism and personal efficiency, exists in the selected sample of administrative units and two banks. To test the fourth hypothesis, the data reduction method was used. The result of factors analysis results for the seven workaholism variables indicate that one factor (workaholism) explains 50,819% of the variance. Similarly, the factor analysis results for the burnout variables (Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis; Rotation Meth- od: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization) shows that three factors (emotional Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 113 Analysis of Workaholism and Burnout Among Employees of Administrative Units and Two Selected Banks in Slovenia exhaustion, depersonalisation, and personal efficiency) explain 64,184% of the variance. The hypothesis was tested with the Spearman correlation coef- ficient. The results are shown in Table 7. The presented (Table 7) findings indicate a strong positive correlation be- tween workaholism and emotional exhaustion (ρ = 0.611; P < 0.001), a weak positive correlation between workaholism and depersonalisation (ρ = 0.327; P < 0.001), and a negligible negative correlation between workaholism and personal efficiency (ρ = –0.164; P = 0.001). Table 7: Spearman correlation coefficient Workaholism Emotional exhaustion Spearman correlation coefficient (ρ) P N 0.611** <0.001 1025 Depersonalisation Spearman correlation coefficient (ρ) P N 0.327** <0.001 1025 Personal Efficiency Spearman correlation coefficient (ρ) P N –0.099 0.001 1025 ** The correlation is statistically significant at 0.01 (2-sided). The results confirm hypothesis H4: There is a positive correlation between work- aholism and emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation and a negative correla- tion between workaholism and personal efficiency at administrative units and two selected banks˝. The findings align with the results by Cheung et al (2018), who also found a positive correlation between workaholism and emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation, and a negative correlation with feelings of personal efficiency. 5 Discussions Administrative units implement regulations and guidelines from higher-level institutions (ministries) and their employees are in direct contact with clients who have ever-increasing expectations. This can lead to stress, and in in the long run, even burnout for some employees. The same can be said for banks, where employees with direct client contact face increasing demands are from both clients and superiors. However, contrary to findings from Amigo et al. (2014) and Dias and Angélico (2018), the presented research conducted among Slovenian administrative units and two selected private banks do not Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023114 Tatjana Kozjek, Anja Bandelj confirm a higher presence of burnout among employees with more client contacts. Additionally, the results of the presented research do not confirm findings indicating a higher prevalence of workaholism in the private sector organisation, as Wijhe, Peeters, and Taris (2011) found. On the other hand, the findings reveal that employees in administrative units report a higher level of working than initially intended, a higher level of being told by oth- ers to reduce their workload without listening to them, and a higher level of deprioritising their hobbies, leisure activities, and exercise due to the work. Furthermore, despite the varied findings indicating a higher prevalence of workaholism and burnout among managers (e. g. Schaufeli, van Wijhe, Peeters, and Taris, 2011; Özsoy, 2018), the findings of the presented research conducted among Slovenian administrative units and two selected private banks do not confirm this for managers and non-managers. Additionally, the findings reveal that managers report higher levels of being told by others to cut down on work without listening to them, as well as a higher level of depri- oritising their hobbies, leisure activities, and exercise due to the work. On the other hand, non-managers report a higher level of doubting the importance of their work. Contrary, managers report a higher level of feeling that they achieve many important things in their work, as well as they are feeling that they contribute something to the organization through their work. According to Dudek and Szpitalak (2019), traditional expectations surround- ing gender roles, men are traditionally expected to focus primarily on work and provide financial support to the family, while women are expected to manage most of the household chores and take care of the children in ad- dition to their jobs; it can lead to challenging for women to balance family life with their career, leading to work overload. Based on the results of the comparison of workaholism and burnout variables according to gender, the findings indicate that women report statistically significantly higher frequen- cies of feeling emotionally exhausted. Additionally, women report a higher level of feeling emotionally drained from work and feeling exhausted at the end of the workday. They also report a higher level of tiredness when waking up in the morning because they have to go to work, find working all day to be really tiring, and experience exhaustion from work. Despite the varied find- ings indicating a higher presence of workaholism and burnout among women (e. g. Burke, 1999; Dudek and Szpitalak, 2019), the findings of the presented research conducted among Slovenian administrative units and two selected private banks do not support this trend for women. This divergence may be attributed to different social environments and the fact that women today aspire to be financially independent or less dependent on men, thereby prior- itising their careers more than in the past. It is crucial for individuals to actively monitor their work schedule and strive to achieve a better balance between professional and family or personal life (Kozjek et al, 2014; Kozjek et al, 2021), to effectively recover from exhaustion and fatigue. However, the findings align with the results by Cheung et al (2018), who also found a positive correlation between workaholism and emotional exhaustion Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 115 Analysis of Workaholism and Burnout Among Employees of Administrative Units and Two Selected Banks in Slovenia and depersonalisation, as well as a negative correlation with feelings of per- sonal efficiency. Nevertheless, it is important for organisations and employ- ees to prioritise workload management and implement employee well-being programs in order to prevent burnout, promote work-life balance, and assure regular assessment of employee well-being. The current study has some limitations that should be acknowledged. One limi- tation is the potential self-selection bias as non-probability sampling was em- ployed, which means that the participants included in the research may differ from those who chose not to participate. Additionally, the research was rein- forced by the similar findings of other researchers in this area, further strength- ening their reliability. Moreover, it is important to recognise that the results of the study may be influenced by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has resulted in an increase in remote work. Therefore, conducting further research in this area would be appropriate. Nevertheless, this research contributes to rising aware- ness about workaholism and burnout, allowing organisations to address the issues and improve employees´ well-being. Furthermore, it adds to the existing literature on workaholism and burnout within the Slovenian context. 5 Conclusions The paper presents research on workaholism and burnout conducted among Slovenian administrative units and two selected private banks. The research was reinforced by the similar findings of other researchers in this area, fur- ther strengthening their reliability. The analysis of workaholism was conduct- ed using seven variables, while burnout was measured using five variables of emotional exhaustion, five variables of depersonalisation, and six variables of personal efficiency. The findings for the variables of workaholism generally do not indicate statisti- cally significant differences between administrative units and banks, as well as not between managers and non-managers, and across genders. Similarly, the findings for the variables of burnout do not show statistically significant dif- ferences between these categories. However, the research reveals a positive correlation between workaholism and emotional exhaustion and depersonali- sation, as well as a negative correlation with feelings of personal efficiency. Therefore, it is crucial for organisations and employees to prioritise work- load management and implement employee well-being programs to prevent burnout, promote work-life balance, and assure regular assessment of em- ployee well-being. It is also important to acknowledge that the results of the study may be influenced by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has resulted in an increase in remote work. Further research in this area would be valuable to deepen understanding of the research. Nonetheless, this research contributes to rising awareness about worka- holism and burnout, providing organisations with insights to address these is- sues and improve employees´ well-being. Furthermore, it adds to the existing literature on workaholism and burnout within the Slovenian context. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023116 Tatjana Kozjek, Anja Bandelj References: Amigo, I. et al. (2014). 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Trends in the Digitalisation of Public Administrations – In Light of EU Legislation and Domestic Developments Central European Public Administration Review, 21(2), pp. 119–140 DOI: 10.17573/cepar.2023.2.06 1.01 Original scientific article Trends in the Digitalisation of Public Administrations – In Light of EU Legislation and Domestic Developments1 Adrián Fábián University of Pécs, Hungary fabian.adrian@ajk.pte.hu, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0103-3077 Gergő Kollár Univercity of Pécs, Hungary kollar.gergo@ajk.pte.hu, https://orcid.org/0009-0008-4595-2941 Received: 30. 9. 2023 Revised: 17. 10. 2023 Accepted: 18. 11. 2023 Published: 30. 11. 2023 ABSTRACT Purpose: Regulating the parameters of all types of identity – including its elements, authenticity and authenticator, verifiability, and the verifi- cation process – requires particular attention. The most critical element here is most likely its presence in the digital sphere. Our main goal is to examine the proposal to amend the eIDAS2 Regulation to create a frame- work for a European digital identity. Design/Methodology/Approach: The paper analyses the topic in terms of Union law and the most recent strategic document of the Hungarian governmental decisionmaker, incorporating pertinent scientific findings. The article evaluates the current situation, highlighting foreseeable and potential impacts of the new legislative developments. Findings: The paper presents both the practices established by the eIDAS Regulation as a starting point and the current status of digitalisation in Hungary (primarily in public administration). Practical Implications: Eventually, we will attempt to identify the expect- ed opportunities and advantages, as well as risks and drawbacks, associ- ated with the nascent trend of digitalization of public administration in the EU and Hungary. 1 Supported by the Hungarian Ministry of Justice to improve the quality of legal education. 2 Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal mar- ket and repealing Directive 1999/93/EC (henceforth: eIDAS) Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023120 Adrián Fábián, Gergő Kollár Originality/Value: Upon establishing a groundwork in this domain, the nature of the amendment and the domestic response (National Digital Citizenship Programme) will be reviewed to assess efforts at both the European and Hungarian levels. Keywords: data protection, digital identity, eIDAS 2.0, e-government JEL: K24 1 Introduction Digital identity refers to the mapping of the unique characteristics of natural persons in the digital world and making them identifiable on this basis. Such an identity is created by digitally storing information about a person and then integrating it into an identification scheme to perform its actual functions (De Hert, 2008, pp. 71). The particular importance of this area is illustrated by its embeddedness in the application domains of various entitlements that are largely insepara- ble from modern human existence. Personal data are naturally essential for the creation of identity and its subsequent re-identification, moreover their protection and their processing in accordance with (or at least not in conflict with) the will of the individual are declared as a fundamental human right by the highest-level European Union and national legislations. In this context, it should be highlighted that with the expansion of the tech- nological toolbox, in some cases even so-called biometric data belonging to a special category of data may be processed, thus exposing the real persons behind the digital identity to greater risk. In addition to the protection of per- sonal data – a need for protection that would not have been possible without the processing of personal data – it is necessary to point out the ability of eve- ry person to define themselves from birth, a definition that undoubtedly in- cludes the identity of the individual (unique identity [Sullivan, 2016, pp 478.]). Although the right to identity has not been established as a fundamental right on its own, it can certainly be grasped as a conglomeration of various other rights. For example, Article 8 of the New York Convention on the Rights of the Child is a constituent element of this, which guarantees every child the right to maintain their own identity3. The right to informational self-determination stipulated by Article VI of the Fundamental Law of Hungary is also necessary to be mentioned here, which gives individuals control over personal data. Personal rights under Title XI of the Civil Code are to be noted, too, since the Civil Code explicitly states that everyone has the right to freely assert their personality. 3 It is perhaps not too far-fetched to assume that this right also applies to adults Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 121 Trends in the Digitalisation of Public Administrations – In Light of EU Legislation and Domestic Developments 2 Starting point: EIDAS and the situation in Hungary 2.1 The eIDAS regulation The eIDAS Regulation can be identified as a directly applicable and directly enforceable piece of legislation that is automatically incorporated into the domestic law of all Member States. The EU legislator has used a powerful in- strument which, in general terms, suggests a high degree of relevance in this area in terms of European economic relations or the protection of European values (Determann, 2021). One of the objectives of the legislation is to establish a secure framework for electronic interactions (primarily between the state’s authorities and citizens of the Union) and to increase trust in electronic transactions (eIDAS (2) recital) (while improving the efficiency of electronic commerce)4, which was sought to be achieved by regulating electronic identification and introducing trust services (“More secure transactions on the Internet,” 2016). For these purposes, the Regulation firstly lays down the conditions under which Member States acknowledge electronic identification means of natural and legal persons under the notified electronic identification schemes of other Member States, and secondly, it introduces the rules on trust services for elec- tronic transactions. Thirdly, it establishes a legal framework for electronic sig- natures, electronic seals, electronic time stamps, electronic documents, elec- tronic delivery services and website authentication services (eIDAS Article 1). An important achievement of eIDAS is that it was the first to establish a cross- border electronic identification framework (eID). In terms of its operational mechanism, it did not seek to harmonise national frameworks, but rather the possibility of mutual recognition and acceptance between Member States by establishing a notification procedure. (Schwalm, 2023) After the report of the Member States, which are voluntarily participating in the procedure, their eID schemes are examined in detail by a group of experts to ensure that they comply with the requirements of the Regulation5. As a result of the assessment, the eID framework will be classified into a security level, which can be low, medium, or high security. The importance of this is that mutual recognition is only binding for other participating Member States if the system is classified as great or high security6. The Regulation replaced the previous Directive 999/93/EC7 when it came in force in 2014, but most of its provisions were not made mandatory until 2016. 4 Electronic signature, electronic stamp, electronic time stamp, electronic registered delivery services and website authentication 5 With regard to the implementing acts of the European Commission (EU) 2015/1501, EU) 2015/1502 and (EU) 2015/1984 6 Commission Staff Working Document Impact Assessment Report Accompanying the docu- ment Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Reg- ulation (EU) n° 910/2014 as regards establishing a framework for a European Digital Identity (hereinafter: Impact Assessment Report) 7 Directive on a Community framework for electronic signatures Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023122 Adrián Fábián, Gergő Kollár Before we look at the positive and negative aspects of the regulation, let us not forget that the COVID-19 pandemic has forced both private and public sector actors worldwide to accelerate digitalisation (research suggests that this could mean a global “time leap” of up to 7 years (McKinsey & Company, 2020) . This has led to user demand for a smooth and complete online ad- ministration and rapid response from decision makers. (Strategy on Shaping Europe’s Digital Future, 2020). For these, a higher-level institutional system for digital identity is clearly indispensable. Based on the Commission’s impact assessment8, which was conducted in con- nection with the Regulation’s self-established effectiveness review (Impact Assessment Report pp4./figure 1.), the following conclusions can be drawn about the performance of eIDAS. Table 1. Evaluating of achievements in the fiel of electronic identification Evaluating achievements in the field of electronic identification Only a limited number of eIDs have been registered, which limits the coverage of the reported eID scheme to around 59% of the EU population. The acceptance of registered eIDs is limited, both at the Member State and service provider level. At the EU level, interoperability of several eID systems has been achieved. The lack of monitoring and reporting obligations limits access to reliable data on active contacts and the use of registered eIDs. The actual cross-border use of eIDs is very limited, but the increasing number of transactions in some Member States confirms the positive trend in the usage of registered eID schemes since September 2018. Citizen’s lack of awareness of eIDAS and private service providers’ low usage of registered eIDs are typical The take-up of eIDAS-based eIDs in the private sector has been insufficient. To allow access to online public services, the current scope of eID schemes registered by Member States is too limited and inadequate. The vast majority of demand for eID and remote authentication will remain in the private sector. The limitations of the eIDAS minimum data package (data content of identity) are a serious shortcoming of many EU sectoral legislations for the implementation of eIDAS solutions. 8 Article 49 of eIDAS requires the Commission to review the application of the Regulation by 1 July 2020 at the latest and to report to the European Parliament and the Council Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 123 Trends in the Digitalisation of Public Administrations – In Light of EU Legislation and Domestic Developments The requirements initially defined to pass the eIDAS Regulation are still relevant; the repeal of the Regulation would lead to fragmentation and negative consequences in other legislative areas relying on eIDAS. Evaluating progress in trust services eIDAS has successfully created legal certainty on liability, burden of proof, legal effect, and the international aspects of trust services, but some issues remain. The availability and utilisation of trust services in the EU have increased since the introduction of the eIDAS Regulation, but there are differences between the Member States and the various trust services. eIDAS has established a strong framework that can be expanded to include the necessary standards and requirements to reduce the current fragmentation of the market, and the different interpretations of supervisory and conformity assessment bodies. Cooperation between supervisory bodies has been formally achieved to enhance the implementation of eIDAS. New trust services for e-archiving have been established to support the requirements for the digitalisation of paper documents and to support portable identity cards. In some areas, different approaches at the national level have an impact on trust and equal conditions for competition. The Regulation provided a common legal framework for the application of trust services, reducing market fragmentation and encouraging the growth of trust services. Source: Authors’ determination The above shows that the eIDAS Regulation has made significant progress in many aspects of the digitalisation of the common market, and in many as- pects, it is the first of its kind in the world. However, even with the right inten- tion and target setting, it is clear that the regulatory system of the Regulation does not provide the legal and technical conditions necessary for accelerated progress and therefore changes are needed. The most pressing areas (so- called “pain points”) are, according to Viky Manaila9, the following (Ubisecure- podcast, 2022): – inflexible and exclusively public sector-focused central identification, – lack of smooth user experience (e.g. no single sign-in), – lack of control over personal data, – lack of regulation on the scope and access of data, 9 Director of Trust Services, Intesi Group Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023124 Adrián Fábián, Gergő Kollár – different levels of / unequal rules for trust service providers across the EU. 2.2 The domestic interfaces There are many requirements – software, hardware, but also social – that can be listed as the background infrastructure for a digital identity to work. There are currently a range of options for accessing basic services online, but their universality and process integration are still lacking. (Schwalm and Alamillo- Domingo, 2022) Despite this, the Hungarian legislator – in accordance with the eIDAS Reg- ulation – studied the area in detail10, which resulted in the development of Act CCXXII of 2015 on the General Rules of Electronic Administration and Trust Services (Eüsztv.) and its implementing regulation, Government Decree 451/2016 (XII. 19.) on the detailed rules of electronic administration. One of the main aims of the Act is to provide a framework with a general horizontal approach for bodies and persons subject to e-government to establish this type of business systems and to enable electronic communication (Baranyi, Homoki and Kovács, 2018). In Hungary, several major advances have taken place across the board on these conditions. These include the regulated eGovernment Services (SZEÜSZ) and the Central eGovernment Services (KEÜSZ) introduced by the Eüsztv., which support public administrative bodies in the digital switchover, and the Cen- tral Identification Agent (KAÜ) and the Client Gateway (ÜK), which provide electronic identification of the public, thus fulfilling the basic requirement for eGovernment (Magyarország Mesterséges Intelligencia Stratégiája, 2020). Closely linked to the KAÜ and ÜK services is the Central Document Authen- tication Agent (KDÜ), which can provide (by the client or by the agent of the e-administration body) an electronic document with one of the authentica- tion options available in its system, therefore creating a “one-stop-shop” for users.11 In addition to the above, the Personalised Administrative Platform (SZÜF) has been created to promote unified administration, allowing customers to man- age their cases with different authorities, courts, other bodies and service providers in a single platform, with a common logic and with a common set of tools. (1. (40) of the Eüsztv.) Currently, there is also a central electronic mail service, but it is not integrated and is available on two separate interfaces. On one side, the user can send let- ters on the ePaper site (General Electronic Application Form Service), whereas the user can manage replies on tarhely.gov.hu. The communication is connected to the Centralised Delivery Agent (KKÜ) service, which provides an integrated platform for the channelling and de- 10 In the framework of the Digital National Development Programme adopted by Government Decision 1162/2014 (III. 25.) 11 Probably one of the best known representatives of the system, its so-called minimum service is the authentication of documents based on identification, also known as AVDH Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 125 Trends in the Digitalisation of Public Administrations – In Light of EU Legislation and Domestic Developments livering of paper-based and electronic mail on a single platform (this can be complemented by the Centralised Receiving Agent (KÉÜ), which allows the automated electronic delivery of mail to the bodies that are obliged to use electronic administration). Digital document and storage services are already available today but in a somewhat fragmented way. An option for the user is the previously men- tioned tarhely.gov.hu, which provides a generic, highly limited storing solu- tion. The other operating system is the Electronic Health Service Space (EE- SZT), which is much more manageable, but only has a limited functional use for health-related procedures. Electronic payment services can be seen as another area of online administra- tion. There are several fractioned systems (e.g. the NAV payment system), but one system worth highlighting is the Electronic Payment and Settlement System (EFER), which offers the possibility to pay by credit card on the Inter- net and has significant potential in this area (if further developed) (Nemzeti Digitális Állampolgárság Program, 2022). An old feature of digitalisation is still present in everyday life, the General Formfiller (ÁNYK) framework, which supports users in the filling of forms. Lastly, the so-called Association Register (ÖR) should be mentioned, which facilitates the communication and exchange of information between public registers without any link between them, and it is a particularly sensitive area from a data protection point of view. Finally, it should be noted that, almost without exception, the National Infocommunication Service Provider Ltd. (NISZ Zrt.) is the service provider for all the systems listed.12 All these systems form the pillars of today’s electronic public administration, but the KAÜ and ÜK, as digital identity verification services, deserve special mention in this context. The Central Identification Agent is an identity verification service provided by the Government on a mandatory basis, as defined in the Eüsztv. Its purpose is to ensure the identification of users – natural person customers and natural person employees of public sector bodies – to the different specialised sys- tems, but the service is not provided by the agent itself, just managed. The basic service provided by the KAÜ consists of providing an authorised specialised system with the identification of a natural person and the result- ing identification data (mandatory and optional). The enhanced KAÜ service (KAÜ+) is more than this, as it provides the authorised specialised system with the identification of a natural person and, in addition, other data, attributes and information on the representative powers of that natural person (KAÜ ÁSZF v3.3). The ÜK is also an electronic identification service provided by the Govern- ment, as defined in the Eüsztv. Its task is to identify the natural person to the online service (specialised system) that requests the identification. In terms of 12 mo.hu, (2023). Information material on e-administration. Online: www.mo.hu Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023126 Adrián Fábián, Gergő Kollár its operation, the user is connected to a database (Client Registration Regis- ter, KÜNY), which is the result of a registration process involving the identifi- cation of the person, where they can then log in by entering a username and password (meaning re-verifying their identity). The verification of identity is then sent to the specialised system via the KAÜ system (ÜK ÁSZF v2.6). 3 The amendment The overall revision of eIDAS is currently at the proposal stage, but discus- sions between the Commission, Council and Parliament on the proposal are progressing positively, with the final version expected to be adopted in the third quarter of 2023 (Ubisecure-podcast, 2022). The proposed legislation is aimed at moving from national to EU level, there- by – in a cross-border manner – ensuring – access to highly secure and reliable electronic identity solutions, – trusted and secure digital identity solutions on which both public and priva- te services can rely, – empowerment of natural and legal persons to use digital identity soluti- ons, – linking these solutions to different attributes and allowing targeted sha- ring of identity data limited to the needs of the service used, – the acceptance of qualified trust services on an equal basis in the EU.13 The objectives described above are in line with the Commission Communica- tion of 9 March 2021 entitled “Digital Agenda to 2030: A European way to achieve the Digital Decade”, which set the goal of an EU framework leading to widespread adoption of a trusted, user-controlled identity by 2030, allowing all users to control their online interactions and presence (this is proposed to mean 80% accessibility for EU citizens by 2030 in terms of users (Wiegl et al., 2022). (The reasoning for these changes is given in the Commission’s 2020 Impact Assessment cited above.) The scope of eIDAS 2.0 is quite broad: it would cover both natural and legal persons, typically online services, but it would also offer solutions for offline situations. It also seeks to tackle a major shortcoming of the previous version, as the area of application extends beyond public administrations to private sector representatives (eIDAS 2.0 Article 1(a)). With this extensive applicability, the legislator is explicitly aiming at creating a comprehensive digital identity ecosystem, which would result in a fully har- monised EU system (eIDAS 2.0 (2) Recital). An important milestone for a har- monised application is to tackle the issue of technological interoperability. On one hand, this will involve the creation of a common technological toolbox, 13 Commission proposal COM(2021) 281 final Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parlia- ment and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the establishment of a European framework for digital identities (hereinafter referred to as eIDAS 2.0), Explanatory Memorandum, point 1. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 127 Trends in the Digitalisation of Public Administrations – In Light of EU Legislation and Domestic Developments which will allow all Member States’ systems to be used uniformly (Council makes headway, 2022) and will guarantee a mutually decided and maintained level of security.14 A key element of the proposal is a specific case of digital identification, the rethinking of electronic signatures and the rules applicable to them. In this re- gard, a crucial target is to ensure that all EU citizens can sign electronically (as a quasi-fundamental right). A further important requirement is that how the sig- nature is given (the method used) should be independent of the nature of the device. The Regulation essentially requires technology neutrality (Schwalm and Alamillo-Domingo, 2021, pp. 104.), but it also requires that – in response to technological trends – the possibility to sign on all devices, especially mobile devices, should be ensured (Digital Identity for all Europeans, 2020). One of the main driving forces behind the proposal is to favour user-friendly solutions, thereby explicitly introducing the principle of ‘one-stop-shopping’, primarily in the operation of European public administrations (Ubisecure-pod- cast, 2022). Perhaps the most directly linked to this aim is one of the major in- novations of the proposal, the creation of a digital data wallet (Digital Wallet). This is where the European idea of a digital identity would be concentrated and implemented through its functions, as envisioned by eIDAS 2.0, that is a centralised identification and data storage system (authenticated personal data and attributes15) and related services. It is important to emphasise that the use of the Digital Wallet will be free to all EU citizens (eIDAS 2.0 Article 6a(6)) but will not be mandatory (eIDAS 2.0 (5) Recital) – The Digital Wallet would work in a partially identical way to the real one, so it would be able to store digital versions of all the documents of a person, which would allow digital identity verification (“e-ID”). – The wallet would also include a digital mailbox, which would guarantee com- munication in an organised, transparent, authentic, and secure way (ePost). – The wallet would also include an electronic document archive, where docu- ments from administrative procedures and mail exchanges would be sto- red (eDocument Management). – In addition to the above, the wallet would be accompanied by an e-signa- ture service that could be used to authenticate documents throughout the EU. This would be paired with a time stamp and an e-stamp, the former to ensure authenticity and the latter to provide legal proof of representative status (eSignature). – Finally, an electronic payment platform would fully complete the integra- tion of the service package, but this would only cover public payment tran- sactions at the moment (ePayment) (eIDAS 2.0 Article 1.) 14 It should be noted that the cyber defence training of the system is carried out by the Europe- an Cyber Security Agency (ENISA) and the certification mechanisms are carried out in accor- dance with Regulation (EU) No 2019/881 15 According to eIDAS 2.0 Article 3(42), an attribute is a characteristic, attribute or attribute of a natural or legal person or entity in electronic form Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023128 Adrián Fábián, Gergő Kollár According to the proposals, the Digital Wallet would cover all aspects of life. It could also be used for administrative purposes such as accessing public ser- vices, opening a bank account or filing a tax report. But it would also cover everyday, routine activities such as storing medical prescriptions, presenting a digital driving licence, checking in at a hotel or even just confirming age (Digital Identity for all Europeans, 2020). The Wallet – as currently understood – would be so universal in character that it would be linked to (or even replace the use of) any other profile used on any other online login platform, from a public portal to a social media platform or even an online shop (eIDAS (21) Recital). Given the above, it is reasonable to assume that the Wallet – and the data con- tent it carries – would gather the online presence of EU citizenship, in other words, the digital identity that has been scattered and found separately in dif- ferent service providers, into a single entity. In this context, the proposal has a clear objective of ensuring a more complete informational self-determination for all users, while also attempting to make the digital wallet fully compatible with both data protection and data security. Protecting the de facto ‘centralised’ digital identities – and the personal data stored in them – that the Wallet will wish to create is proving to be a major chal- lenge. To achieve this the proposal and its accompanying documents set out several safeguards that are aimed at reducing the risks involved. First and fore- most, one possible – and perhaps the most important technically speaking –so- lution to the current inflexibility of the Regulation, the Zero Knowledge Proof (ZKP) (Impact Assessment Report pp. 30) procedure, needs to be mentioned. This would provide the authentication requester with the necessary informa- tion without providing the exact data content. In practice, this would mean that if an online platform asks for verification of the user’s age (e.g. whether they are over 16 years old), the system would confirm this without providing the exact age or date of birth. It is a major aspect that the new version of the Regulation – as drafted in the proposal – will not require linking public and other records, and will explicitly prohibit the combination of data, in order to respect data management prin- ciples (eIDAS 2.0 Article 6a(7)). This expectation meets a need that emerged in the early days of data protec- tion law, namely the separation of public databases. This is still clearly neces- sary today, as the problem of information overreach (Szabó, 2012) remains, and the new involvement of large technology companies has only complicat- ed the situation further in the 2010s. In order to overcome this, under the proposed system public databases will remain intact and will continue to op- erate in accordance with the previous procedures. Under the proposal, these will serve as the “background data” that will allow the above-mentioned ZKP identification to be carried out. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 129 Trends in the Digitalisation of Public Administrations – In Light of EU Legislation and Domestic Developments According to Romana Jerković16, the entire system should be built on prin- ciples such as “cybersecurity by design” and “privacy by design” (EPRS Policy Podcast, 2023). These are essential elements in today’s data protection envi- ronment, as the GDPR explicitly declares an obligation for data controllers to take and implement appropriate organisational and technical measures (Arti- cles 24-25 GDPR) and to maintain a corresponding data management system. 4 Changes: effects and consequences 4.1 The opportunities and benefits Based on an examination of the proposal and other documents, it appears that there are a number of positive benefits to be expected from achieving the stated and specific aims. However, in addition to these, there are certain benefits that are less obvious in the current communications, which may be direct or even indirect and can provide significant benefits to EU actors, re- gardless of their legal status. Having listed the obvious benefits in advance, there is no doubt that if the plans are successfully carried out, a properly flowing and much more user-friendly system will be developed compared to the former. This can be deduced from its centralised nature and the well-communicated ‘one-stop-shop’ principle. The public and private services available through a central identification plat- form are expected to eliminate the necessity of endless profile and password management, thus making private and professional life easier and more effi- cient. Simplification of this process – if successful – could make online services more accessible and available to groups in society who have previously been hindered by complex, fragmented and sometimes inaccessible systems. Re-regulating electronic signatures and making them available for free can have a significant beneficial impact on e-commerce, helping consumers and businesses to do business easier in the digital space. A less obvious but tech- nology-neutral e-signature capability, which is widely available and based on the same set of rules, could – if implemented – significantly reduce the opera- tional costs and environmental impact of public services and businesses. For example, very long contracts, service specifications, customer and employee information leaflets could be sent and signed in a fully electronic format with- out the need for printing in the future. This is well complimented by a quali- fied archiving service (eDocument Management) that can provide reliable and credible long-term storage, which will assist organisations and individuals in fulfilling their document conservation responsibilities. Perhaps one of the most positive effects of the eIDAS 2.0 Regulation will be on data management practices and the implementation of informational self- determination. Primarily, the role of Digital Wallets can be significant in main- taining – and in many cases regaining – control over data. At present, service 16 Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur for the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023130 Adrián Fábián, Gergő Kollár providers (predominantly in the private sector, but not entirely excluding the public sector) expect users to provide – and where appropriate, continue to provide – self-defined data content on various login interfaces and platforms. To address this, a system of “notice and consent” given in the spirit of user awareness in relation to the previous regulations does not seem sustain- able, for the simple reason that it is no longer expected that a person reads through hundreds of pages of informative material on a daily basis, investi- gate the scope of the data actually processed, make an informed decision on the processing of the data – with the necessary expertise, of course – and communicate this decision to the service provider through a variety of forms and channels (Solove, 2013). A centralised digital identity, if it can success- fully put control back in the hands of the individual concerned, could effec- tively contribute to the restitution – at least in part – of the previous system. If nothing else, it will certainly promote transparency of data-based business practices and accountability of data controllers. Taking data management further, making central identification available to all actors across borders and on equal terms would simplify the exercise of data subjects’ rights and at the same time make data controllers’ operations more secure. Currently, effective verification of identity and credible declarations both pose serious problems in practice within and outside organisations. The new Regulation would strongly support the identification and statements of individuals in the exercise of their rights. For example, exercising the right to access (a person’s request for a copy of their personal data) can be done simply and risk-free, as the controller can verify the existence of the right to access without excessive data requests. If the ePost service can be applied in this area, there will also be significant im- provement in the secure transmission of data. Finally, there is a rather distant, but still serious consequence of the introduction of eIDAS 2.0. The reorganisa- tion of the different profiles should not only enhance the user experience but also reduce the quasi-monopoly position of service providers – particularly large technology companies. At present, giant companies17 such as Meta, Google, Mi- crosoft, Amazon, ByteDance and Apple have the autonomy to define the scope of the data they collect and the way it is used on their own platforms. The data subjects have minimal influence on this process, not only because of the platform’s own data management practices but also because of its posi- tion in the market. The profiles created on the platforms of the companies listed above can be accepted as a registration method for a number of ‘small- er’ providers (Impact Assessment Report pp. 8), but this gives the possibility to broaden the profile and link the records of the activities carried out on different platforms. This so-called digital footprint is currently difficult to re- strain and practically impossible to eliminate (regardless of the right to eras- ure (Article 17 GDPR) that the GDPR would otherwise allow). However, the EU’s efforts to address this situation are evident, with more and more recent legislation in the digital legislative wave of recent years – such as the GDPR, 17 In the terminology of the Digital Markets Act (DMA): Gatekeepers Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 131 Trends in the Digitalisation of Public Administrations – In Light of EU Legislation and Domestic Developments DSA18, DMA19, MI Regulation20, e-privacy Regulation21 – clearly aiming at clari- fying the situation of these service providers and securing data management practices. eIDAS 2.0 fits well within this line and is likely to prove effective in this regard. 4.2 The risks and disadvantages For all its advantages, there are considerable risks to be identified and serious drawbacks in the event of failure or possible dysfunctionality of a provision of the regulation. In many cases, previous advantages can easily turn into disadvantages if not properly applied. For example, the ‘one-stop shop’ system of the central Digi- tal Wallet can lead to abuse in more serious cases and inconvenience in less serious ones. A system failure could lead to the loss of access not only to one platform but to all of them. Thinking this through, as Rob Rooken22 has noted, the system could also have the potential to influence or even prevent access to certain platforms or services (even if access is currently voluntary). With increased user vulnerability, it is possible that even with the best legislative intentions, the system will not be able to ensure transparency and could even lead to further abuse by creating the appearance of security. From a technical point of view, difficulties are expected from several sides. One obvious problem may arise if the implementation is simply not right (even if it is due to a lack of interoperability). This may be due to slowness, difficulty of use or other features of the system, but ultimately the important thing is that users are used to a mature and already existing user-friendly infrastruc- ture on social media platforms. In the event of a significant drop in quality (due to the voluntary nature of the use), it is possible that the space will remain under-utilised. More important and possibly more damaging than the former may be the implementation of an inadequate data and information security environment. From the previous examples, it is clear that the scope of use and the data content involved can be highly sensitive areas, so the data protection law’s risk-based approach raises serious expectations. In this context, particu- lar attention should be paid to the secure storing and transmission of data, as accidental/unlawful access (i.e. in the event of a data breach [Articles 32, 33 GDPR]) could lead to the endangering of entire digital identities. The issue of access to databases should also be mentioned here because although the 18 Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 October 2022 on a Single Market For Digital Services and amending Directive 2000/31/EC (Digital Ser- vices Act) 19 Regulation (EU) 2022/1925 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14  Septem- ber 2022 on contestable and fair markets in the digital sector and amending Directives (EU) 2019/1937 and (EU) 2020/1828 (Digital Markets Act) 20 Proposal for a regulation of the european parliament and of the council laying down har- monised rules on artificial intelligence (artificial intelligence act) and amending certain union legislative acts 21 Proposal for a regulation of the european parliament and of the council concerning the res- pect for private life and the protection of personal data in electronic communications and repealing directive 2002/58/ec (regulation on privacy and electronic communications) 22 Member of the European Parliament (ECR) Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023132 Adrián Fábián, Gergő Kollár proposal indicates that these databases can only be linked to the necessary extent, the legislator has raised an interpretative question which will certainly be answered differently in different Member States of the EU. The provisions of the Regulation may prove ineffective. This may be due to user distrust or even widespread market resistance. In this case, most of the benefits will not be manifested, no reduction in the environmental impact and costs can be expected, and the Regulation will not contribute to a more efficient eGovernment and to reforming the position of large platforms. Figure 1. Summary of possible impacts and consequences Risks and disadvantages Opportunities and benefits Source: Authors’ determination 5 National digital citizenship programme: digital citizenship – digital administration 5.1 From electronic to digital administration The electronic handling of public administrations is just one of the “branching out” of the effects of technological developments on public administration. The need for change and change itself is evident, both from the state and from citizens and businesses. (Veale and Brass, 2019) “In the past, customer needs were based on face-to-face interaction and paper-based administration, but with technological advances, mobile pen- Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 133 Trends in the Digitalisation of Public Administrations – In Light of EU Legislation and Domestic Developments etration and digital literacy have increased to such an extent that the need for a change of approach in this area has become clear. Customers now also expect public administrations to provide them with the autonomy to choose the path, solution or even the means to interact with the administration and address their problems.” (Molnár, Sasvári and Tarpai, 2020). In 2020 and 2021, changes to administrative legislation due to the pandemic, as well as individual management decisions have both pushed e-government to the forefront of administrative procedures, resulting in a significant drop in face-to-face contact with customers.23 The essence of electronic administration is contained in 8. (1) of the Eüsztv.: the electronic handling of (procedural) acts. “ Unless provided otherwise by an Act or a government decree adopted by acting within original legislative power, a client may carry out administrative acts and make statements by electronic means before an electronic administration organ in the course ad- ministering his matters.” By electronic procedure, we mean an administrative procedure that is carried out in absentia, using all the elements of modern infocommunication means. However, the relevant legislation does not include this type of procedure in this sense but uses a different approach instead of this complex aspect. This is the concept of electronic administration24. Hence, the two concepts do not have the same meaning. Finally, I must emphasise the complexity of electronic administration, which also poses considerable risks for the customer. Here, the complexity is not only technological but also legal.25 The first steps taken in Hungary from electronic to digital public administra- tion are less legal and more of a “decisional” nature: “A new era in govern- ment IT has begun with the establishment of the Digital Hungary Agency (DMÜ). The DMÜ will be in charge of state duties related to e-government, IT, the unification of e-government and IT developments, electronic communica- tions for government purposes, and ensuring the infrastructural feasibility of public administration IT (DMÜ Introduction, 2022). In December 2022, the DMÜ issued the National Digital Citizenship Pro- gramme (hereinafter: the Program) (Program, 2022), which essentially sets out the technology-based development of the Hungarian public administra- tion until the end of the first “strategic period” in 2026. The Programme is a fundamental document, it contains provisions on the ex- ploitation of the national data assets and the use of cloud technology, but its 23 Horváth, T. Presentation on Issues that can be dealt with at the Government Office during a pandemic; Vas, R., Presentation on building authority procedures during the pandemic Ad- ministrative Procedural Law Online Professional Conference on Authority procedures in the pandemic period, (2021). 24 About the background: Fábián, A., (2006). Gondolatok a Ket. elektronikus ügyintézésre vonat- kozó szabályairól. Infokommunikáció és Jog. 2006/1. 25 Presentations of Horváth and Vas (see footnote 61.) Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023134 Adrián Fábián, Gergő Kollár most important point is the introduction of digital citizenship (“Jön a digitális magyar állampolgárság”, 2022). Achieving “digital citizenship” requires the development of a “coherent online system providing an excellent user experience, radically simplifying commu- nication between citizens and different government departments (e.g. ad- ministration, information) and contributing equally to citizen satisfaction and to the optimisation of public administration” (The Programme covers several topics, but the most relevant is the Concept of Digital Citizenship.) The Programme is explicitly designed to achieve the objectives of the digital identity initiative launched by the European Union, focusing on the creation of basic services and customer-friendly channels on a single platform, and on redefining the digital relationship between the state and citizens. In today’s modern and digital environment, it is essential for citizens to be able to com- municate and manage all their interactions with the State and its institutions in a convenient, simple and immediate way. For this purpose, aligned with the eIDAS 2.0 requirements, the Programme will place particular emphasis on the promotion and full availability For this purpose, aligned with the eIDAS 2.0 re- quirements, the Programme will place particular emphasis on the promotion and full availability of e-ID, ePost, eDocument Management and ePayment services for Hungarian users (Program, 2022 pp. 5-6.). The term digital administration appears a total of 10 times in the 84-page doc- ument.26 Although the Programme does not expressly define the concept of digital administration and its distinction from electronic administration, the main elements of its meaning can still be deduced relatively precisely. The Programme approaches digital administration explicitly as a technologi- cal and not a legal advance. It does not even qualify digital administration as an objective of administrative reform, but it also considers the creation of the necessary legal conditions. In the context of the Programme, digital administration27 is primarily a) a mobile phone application, b) that would provide a “user experience”, c) and it is widely accessible for a large number of cases involving a high num- ber of customers,28 d) essentially simple electronic means of administration leading to changes in the basic public registers: typically document administration, motor vehi- cle administration, registrations of civil status, educational administrative matters, pension administration and entries in the land register (Program, 2022, pp. 21). 26 See pps. 9, 13, 21, 23, 26, 27, 67 és 75. 27 The Program also uses the concept of „mobile administration”: p23. 28 „The transformation, starting in 2023, will be continuous, prioritising issues affecting a wider range of citizens (e.g.: renewal of ID cards, driving licences, car purchase, property purchase).” pp. 13. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 135 Trends in the Digitalisation of Public Administrations – In Light of EU Legislation and Domestic Developments One can agree with the statement that digital platforms in public adminis- tration and their use in the enforcement of public law is one of the future essences and realisations of the service principle and that the same principle can unfold when the state creates and operates digital platforms, (Giest and Samuels, 2023) but also when the customer chooses from the digital inter- faces which one is most convenient for them and uses it in the course of their administration (Poysti, 2018). It is clear that the digital platform favoured by customers today is mobile technology. 5.2 Digital administration and existing legislation The term “digital administration” does not exist in our current legislation. Act CL of 2016 on the General Administrative Procedure (hereinafter: the General Administrative Procedure Act) refers in several provisions to procedural legal facilities based on electronic, infocommunication technologies, their applica- bility and suitability, thereby essentially giving free passage even to “digital administration” as defined in the Programme. The starting point is one of the fundamental principles of the General Admin- istrative Procedure Act: the principle of efficiency. According to this principle: “ In the interest of efficiency, the authority shall organise its activity in such a manner as to result in the least possible expense for all participants in the pro- cedure and, without prejudice to the requirements of clarifying the facts of the case, for the procedure to be closed as expeditiously as possible with the ap- plication of advanced technologies.” [General Administrative Procedure Act 4.] On the basis of this provision, it can be argued that the “use of advanced technologies” will speed up the “conclusion” of the proceedings, in other words, ultimately the decision on the merits.29 In fact, advanced technology can mean anything, but primarily the use of information and communication technologies: “the public authority must give priority to the use of advanced technologies in its proceedings and, of course, must organise its own work as efficiently as possible, with emphasis on the use of electronic administration.” [Explanatory Memorandum of General Administrative Procedure Act 2-6.]. Efficiency in the administrative procedure (Kilényi, 1970) can therefore be understood in several dimensions: in terms of the client, the authority, and the procedure, but also in terms of the performance of administrative tasks in general, which in a given sector can be measured in forints. For example, in tax administration, the introduction of online cash registers, online invoic- ing systems or the Electronic Roadside VAT Control System could significantly increase the VAT revenues of the central budget (Varga, 2021). The General Administrative Procedure Act regulates the “electronic procedure”, or more precisely electronic administration, from the viewpoint of communica- 29 The reasons for changes in foreign legislation are similar, see also: Marcos, A., C., (2016). Elect- ronic Government Innovations in the New Spanish Administrative Framework. Legislation Revista Juridica de Castilla y Leon, 40.; Gedid, J., (2012). Administrative Procedure for the Twenty-First Century: An Introduction to the 2010 Model State Administrative Procedure Act. St. Mary’s Law Journal, (44). Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023136 Adrián Fábián, Gergő Kollár tion. This essentially means that the electronic way of contacting is a suitable tool to “steer” the customer’s participation and communication with the au- thority towards an electronic platform instead of a “platform” of presence. The relevant provision of the General Administrative Procedure Act is the “general rules for contacts”. According to this provision, the authority may communicate with the client and the participants in the procedure by elec- tronic means, both in writing and orally. The written electronic communica- tion consists of electronic means defined in the Eüsztv. A crucial point is the definition of communication. Communication essentially means communication between a client and a public authority, which may or may not include communication intended to have legal effect. On the other hand, the Regulation does not speak of electronic administrative procedures, but of electronic administration. In this respect, the concept of administra- tion is not clear, but it is likely to include – in theory – all the elements of the administrative procedure that are recognised and regulated by the Eüsztv. “It is a step forward that the legislator no longer strives only to make docu- ments available electronically and to create interoperability between paper and electronic documents, but also refers to the electronic nature of certain aspects of the process.” (Veszprémi, 2021). In addition, the General Administrative Procedure Act stipulates – as a guar- antee – that unless otherwise provided by law, the form of communication is to be chosen by the customer on the basis of information provided by the public authority. The customer may switch from the chosen means of contact to another means available to the public authority. In the event of a situation threatening life or serious harm, the authority shall choose the means of con- tact. [General Administrative Procedure Act 26.] In addition to the traditional written form, the General Administrative Proce- dure Act also considers the electronic form defined by Eüsztv. as written form. Where electronic means are used, Eüsztv. states that a declaration may be deemed to be in writing if the declarant is identified electronically in accord- ance with certain rules and it is ensured that the electronic document served is the same as the document approved by the declarant [Eüsztv. 17. (2)]. Elec- tronic communication that does not meet the requirements of the Eüsztv. (e.g. a simple e-mail exchange or a telephone call without identification) is consid- ered as oral communication under the General Administrative Procedure Act. Although the concept of digital administration is not explicitly clarified in the Programme, it can be concluded that digital administration is not the same as automatic administration. In a somewhat simplistic way, an automatic proce- dure is an electronic procedure (electronic administration) in which “human intervention”, whether the client (electronic) or administrator interaction, is excluded ex lege. It can also be stated that automatic decision-making may be used – subject to other conditions – in administrative proceedings initiated by public authori- Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 137 Trends in the Digitalisation of Public Administrations – In Light of EU Legislation and Domestic Developments ties on request and ex officio. This form of administration essentially limits or excludes the exercise of most clients’ rights, in fact, only the right to legal remedy can be exercised. A key part of the extension of automatic decision making could be the issuing of certificates and extracts from administrative records. This would not only increase the service capacity of public administrations, meaning a positive change for customers but could also reduce the workload of administrators (Kárpáti, 2020). 6 Conclusions It can be concluded that the domestic (public administration) digital frame- work has an existing, usable and actually used digital service palette. These follow the guidelines set by eIDAS and aim to work in accordance with its requirements. However, it can be seen that (as with other EU trends) the system is highly fragmented, with elements not or not sufficiently supporting each other, and a significant disconnect between the public and private sectors. There is also concern that the existing platforms are less customer-friendly than expected. The current digitalisation coverage of the Hungarian public administration is only 16% of the general administration out of all online transactions (Pro- gram, 2022). The concepts of EU identity, identification and digital citizenship in the EU can easily be brought together, but this interoperability also has its prereq- uisites. Among these, the technological requirements seem to be the easiest to meet, while the legal preconditions are predicted to be more complex and problematic. We only have to refer back to the advantages and disadvantag- es detailed in the eIDAS 2.0 provisions. A number of conditions are already in place that make these objectives technically achievable, but creating the right legal environment and promoting the fulfilment of the conditions for this may be a major challenge. Even in the most optimal situation, the feasi- bility of enforcing and monitoring implementation and enforcement may be questionable, as without them legal policy objectives become unattainable and constituted rights and obligations become void. In order for electronic administration to be an electronic public administra- tion procedure, it is necessary to develop a procedural/administrative model for an administrative procedure implemented. This is currently absent.30 The model (modelled process) of electronic public administration can be adapted to the framework of digital public administration, which could be the basis for a comprehensive national legislation adapting the eIDAS rules. The situation as visioned by the regulation is undoubtedly desirable, but without the neces- sary – social and technological – conditions for its implementation in the pub- 30 For details of possible alternatives see also: Torma, A., (2008). Az ügyintézés és a közigazgatási munkafolyamatok modellezéséről. Miskolc University Press. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023138 Adrián Fábián, Gergő Kollár lic administration system and its effective application, it is difficult to imagine that it can meet the legislator’s expectations in real life situations. Legislation must meet the requirements to allow the customer to participate effectively in the electronic (digital) process (administration), replacing paper- based customer actions by post or in person, but ensuring the customer’s rights under national and EU law (Kárpáti, 2020). The regulation of this model could lead to a general electronic procedural code that would or could re- place the General Administrative Procedure Act in such procedures. The third prerequisite is trust. Online platforms for both the digital society and digital public administrations. The reliability of platforms and trust in general is a precondition for appropriate, transparent and “clean” legislation (Poysti, 2018). This is where the legal and non-legal requirements of digital public administration converge. The current Hungarian legal administrative regime is ready to meet the eIDAS 2.0 expectations, and it is apparent that a number of legal and technologi- cal solutions have been introduced in recent years that meet the precondi- tions for meeting the requirements, at a level that is acceptable in EU terms. However, to move to the next phase, the national administration will need to align its own law with this new management structure, in addition to the legal and infrastructural requirements of the Regulation. It would be impor- tant that the two systems do not coexist in parallel, but instead of hindering each other, they could both support Hungarian users on their way to a higher level of digitisation. 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International Conference on the Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance. 141 2591-2259 / This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ DOI: 10.17573/cepar.2023.2.07 1.01 Original scientific article Absence of an Oral Hearing in Administrative Disputes: A Comparative Analysis of Slovenia and Croatia Mario Rašić EFFECTUS University of Applied Sciences, Croatia mrasic@effectus.com.hr https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5134-846X Received: 30. 8. 2023 Revised: 5. 11. 2023 Accepted: 27. 11. 2023 Published: 30. 11. 2023 ABSTRACT Purpose: The right to an oral hearing is an essential element of Article 6 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Free- doms. This is particularly emphasised in administrative procedures where the parties are in a hierarchical relationship. The absence of an oral hearing can significantly limit a party’s right to a fair trial. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the positive law and state of play in the Republic of Slovenia and the Republic of Croatia regarding the right to an oral hearing. The purpose of this paper is to analyse relevant legislation and case law with the goal of propos- ing future legislation that better aligns with effective legal protection. Design/Methodology/Approach: Desk research was conducted to analyse current legal solutions and case law using sociological research methods. These involved analysing domestic and international legal texts and review- ing the rules governing national administrative procedures in the countries included in the research, as well as against decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. In addition, the research used a combination of primary and secondary data sources. Findings: Administrative courts should prioritise procedural justice and equal- ity of arms, even when there is no clear need for oral hearings, especially if one of the parties requests to appear before the court. To minimise damag- ing discretion, both parties should consent to relinquishing the right to an oral hearing, which should be mandatory by default. Academic contribution to the field: The primary contribution of this paper lies in its de lege ferenda suggestions regarding the right to an oral hearing, Rašić, M. (2023). Absence of an Oral Hearing in Administrative Disputes: A Comparative Analysis of Slovenia and Croatia. Central European Public Administration Review, 21(2), pp. 141–164 Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023142 Mario Rašić which could potentially enhance the protection of human rights in relation to a fair trial in both administrative disputes and administrative procedures. Originality/Value: This research is original as it presents a comparative analy- sis of administrative procedure and disputes in selected Member States. To the best of the author’s knowledge, no such comparative study has been con- ducted before. The findings of this research could have significant value as they highlight the need for improving procedural justice and equality of arms in ensuring a fair trial in administrative disputes. Keywords: administrative dispute, administrative law, European Court of Human Rights, fair trial, oral hearing JEL: K23, K40, K38 1 Introduction The right to a fair trial is one of the fundamental human rights and a pinnacle achievement of modern legal systems. The concept of effective legal protec- tion is entrenched within the European Union’s acquis communautaire and in European Court of Justice’s case law practice, as well as in the cases of the European Court of Human Rights.1 Subjects who cannot present their legal interests fully in the procedure or cannot rely on the impartiality of the pub- lic authorities in the course of the administrative adjudication, in which their rights and interests are affected, are deprived of equal respect of equality of arms, fair trial and their human rights may as well be violated.2 However, in some cases the right to an oral hearing stands against other equally important principles of the administrative dispute procedure, most notably the principle of efficiency where the facts are clear or not disputed by the parties. Some authors also indicate that the right to an oral hearing is not an absolute right in administrative proceedings.3 A number of studies examined the right to a fair and public hearing in the broadest sense, as stipulated in the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms4, within criminal proceedings.5 Also, literature 1 Correia, S. (2011). Administrative Due or Fair Process: Different Paths in the Evolutionary For- mation of a Global Principle and of a Global Right, in Anthony, G. et al. (eds.), Values in Global Administrative Law, Hart Publishing, Oxford, pp. 313–362. 2 Correia, S. (2011). Administrative Due or Fair Process: Different Paths in the Evolutionary For- mation of a Global Principle and of a Global Right, in Anthony, G. et al. (eds.), Values in Global Administrative Law, Hart Publishing, Oxford, pp. 313-362. 3 For example, see: Žuber, B., Lovšin, Š. (2019). Judicial dialogue in the light of protocol no. 16 to the European Convention on Human Rights. Zbornik Pravnog fakulteta Sveučilišta u Rijeci, vol. 40 (2), pp. 915-916. However, the refusal to allow such a hearing, firstly, must be reasoned by a court or a tribunal. See more: Zrvandyan, A. (2016). Casebook on European fair trial stan- dards in administrative justice. Strasbourg: Council of Europe, pp. 73-74. 4 Council of Europe, European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamen- tal Freedoms, as amended by Protocols Nos. 11 and 14, 4 November 1950, referred also as European Convention on Human Rights and the Convention further in the article. 5 Hirvelä, P. and Heikkilä, S. (2021). Right to a fair trial: a practical guide to the Article 6 case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. Intersentia; Ilić, I. and Knežević, S. (2020). Scope of Ar- Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 143 Absence of an Oral Hearing in Administrative Disputes: A Comparative Analysis of Slovenia and Croatia extensively focused on the right to a fair trial within a reasonable time which remains one of the most common basis for Article 6 violations6, on access to justice in general7 and also on its implications on country-specific level.8 One of the first analysis of the applicability of Article 6(1) to administrative proceedings was conducted in 1975.9 Regarding the civil limb, analysed re- search focused on harmonization of procedural guarantees with the Conven- tion’s rights in non-criminal matters.10 Authors noted cases establishing the general entitlement to a hearing under Article 6 of the Convention, but also that the right to an oral hearing is not absolute, especially in cases whereas a public hearing has been held at least at one instance or due to exceptional circumstances.11 Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, literature also extensively focused on en- suring the Convention’s right to a fair trial in online hearings.12 The results of such research is twofold. On the one hand, Oliveira et al. conclude that the digitalisation of judicial administrative procedures provides for “more than just an update of technological tools for judicial operators. It signifies ticle 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights - Contribution of the European Court of Human Rights Practice. Balkan Social Science Review, 16, pp. 39–55. https://doi.org/10.46763/ BSSR2016039I; Guran, M. (2019). Short considerations on the scope of the right to a fair trial provided by art. 6 of the ECHR – the concept of “criminal charge. Law review (Romania), 2, pp. 157–165. 6 See: Langford, I. (2009). Fair Trial: The History of an Idea. Journal of Human Rights. 8(1), pp. 37-52, DOI: 10.1080/14754830902765857; Borraccetti, M. (2011). Fair Trial, Due Process and Rights of Defence in the EU Legal Order, in Giacomo, D. (ed.) The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice, vol 8. Springer, Dordrecht. 7 Gerards, J. H., Glas, L. R. (2017). Access to justice in the European Convention on Hu- man Rights system. Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, 35(1), pp. 11-30. https://doi. org/10.1177/0924051917693988 8 Further reading on the implementation of the right to a fair trial in the Republic of Croa- tia: Uzelac, A. (2004). Vladavina prava i pravosudni sustav: Sporost pravosuđa kao prepreka pridruživanju, in Ott. K. (ed.), Pridruživanje Hrvatske Europskoj Uniji, Izazovi institucionalnih prilagodbi, volume 2, pp. 99-123, Republic of Macedonia: Zendeli, E. (2013). The Challenges of the Implementation of Paragraph of Article of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in the Judicial System of the Republic of Macedonia. Journal of Politics and Law, 6(2), pp. 193-201, for Republic of Serbia Milošević, M., Knežević Bojović, A. (2018). Trial Within Reasonable Time in EU Acquis and Serbian Law. EU and Comparative Law Issues and Challenges Series (ECLIC), 1, pp. 447–470. https://doi.org/10.25234/eclic/6540, for Republic of Montenegro Council of Europe (prepared by: Roagna, I.) (2018). The right to trial within reasonable time under Article 6 ECHR. 9 Harris, D. J. (1975). The application of Article 6 (1) of the European Convention on Human Rights to Administrative Law. The British Year Book of International Law, 47(1), pp. 157–200. 10 Lillo Lobos, R. (2022). Understanding due process in non-criminal matters: how to harmo- nize procedural guarantees with the right to access to justice. Springer, pp. 109-155, Galič, A. (2017). The inconsistency of case law and the right to a fair trial, in Uzelac, A., van Rhee, C. (eds.) Revisiting procedural human rights. Fundamentals of civil procedure and the changing face of civil justice. Intersentia, Cambridge, pp. 17–51. 11 Lillo Lobos, R. (2022). Understanding due process in non-criminal matters: how to harmonize procedural guarantees with the right to access to justice. Springer, pp. 142-145; Helmreich, M. (2013). Absence of an oral hearing before the Independent Administrative Panel. Vienna Online Journal on International Constitutional Law, 7(4), pp. 541–546; Paužaitė-Kulvinskienė, J. (2016). The principle of effective legal protection in administrative law in Lithuania, in Z. Szente and K. Lachmayer, eds., The Principle of Effective Legal Protection in Administrative Law: A European Perspective. London: Routledge, pp. 190–217. 12 See for example research on the right to hear a case within a reasonable time and the right to public hearing during the pandemic: Paduch, A. (2021). The Right to a Fair Trial Under Article 6 ECHR During the Covid-19 Pandemic. Central European Public Administration Review (On- line), 19(2), 7–25. https://doi.org/10.17573/cepar.2021.2.01 Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023144 Mario Rašić a paradigm shift and a change in the nature of the legal process”.13 On the other hand, whilst acknowledging the positive aspects of remote hearings, Bilevičiūtė notes that Lithuanian legislative framework lacks complete insur- ance of “rights to attend one’s trial, to communicate confidentially with the lawyer, to put questions to witnesses and to challenge evidence“ in adminis- trative procedures.14 Concerns about insuring the right to a fair trial as guar- anteed under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights have been researched regarding remotely held criminal procedures as well.15 Relevant literature on oral hearings before international tribunals demonstrat- ed that the right to an oral hearing appears to be more restricted than before national tribunals, noting that zero oral hearings have been conducted before the International Labour Organization Administrative Tribunal since 1989.16 Furthermore, authors have discussed the right to an oral hearing in terms of procedural fairness and social psychology, indicating that hearing people in person enhances procedural fairness judgments and contributes to better ac- ceptance of court’s decisions17, while also acknowledging that the oral hear- ings can even be a disadvantage for claimants.18 Finally, papers have discussed the use of experts and scientific evidence in the light of the rights to a fair trial, concluding that the right for the defendant in criminal cases to participate in and challenge the use of such evidence could be improved and that the European Court of Human Rights should have the competence to review admissibility and impact of such evidence.19 The first section of this paper examines the development and positive law within the two selected countries. Following that, the conventional frame- work of the European Court of Human Rights shall be laid down and analysed. The main research part of the paper is the analysis of the most relevant cases 13 Oliveira, A. M., Pedro, R. L. D., Correia, P. M. A. R. and Lunardi, F. C. (2023). An Overview of the Portuguese Electronic Jurisdictional Administrative Procedure. Laws, 12(5), 84. https://doi. org/10.3390/laws12050084 14 Bilevičiūtė, E. (2022). Actual issues of remote court hearings in administrative procedure. Acta Prosperitatis, 13, pp. 7–23. 15 See Kamber, K. (2022). The Right to a Fair Online Hearing. Human Rights Law Review, 22(2). https://doi.org/10.1093/hrlr/ngac006, Kulesza, C. (2021). Remote Trial and Remote Deten- tion Hearing in Light of the ECHR Standard of the Rights of the Accused. Białostockie Studia Prawnicze, 26(3), pp. 205–221. https://doi.org/10.15290/bsp.2021.26.03.11 16 For International Labour Organization Administrative Tribunal see Treichl, C. (2019). The Denial of Oral Hearings by International Administrative Tribunals as a Factor for Lifting Or- ganizational Immunity before European Courts: A(nother) Critical View. International Orga- nizations Law Review, 16(2), 407–446. https://doi.org/10.1163/15723747-20181139 and for European Court of Justice Rosas, A. (2014). Oral Hearings before the European Court of Jus- tice. Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law, 21(4), pp. 596–610. https://doi. org/10.1177/1023263X1402100402, 17 De Graaf, C. V. (2021). Procedural fairness: Between human rights law and social psy- chology. Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, 39(1), pp. 11–29. https://doi. org/10.1177/0924051921992749 18 Johannesson, L. (2023). Silence and Voice in Oral Hearings: Spatial, Temporal, and Relational Conditions for Communication in Asylum and Compulsory Care Hearings. Social & Legal Stud- ies, 32(3), pp. 410–416. https://doi.org/10.1177/09646639221118654. The study concerned asylum and compulsory care hearings in Sweden. 19 Vuille, J., Lupària, L., Taroni, F. (2017). Scientific evidence and the right to a fair trial under ar- ticle 6 ECHR. Law, Probability and Risk, 16(1), pp. 55–68. https://doi.org/10.1093/lpr/mgx001. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 145 Absence of an Oral Hearing in Administrative Disputes: A Comparative Analysis of Slovenia and Croatia stemming from the European Court of Human Rights and national courts. Fi- nally, the main scientific contribution of this paper is de lege ferenda sugges- tions, which contribute to a higher level of human rights protection in the context of a fair trial. 2 Methodology The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the importance and ef- fect exercising the right to be heard, with an analysis of the current legal state of play in two countries: the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Slovenia. Although comparative research of two countries already exists,20 compara- tive papers relating to the topic of oral hearings in administrative disputes has not yet been conducted. The paper deals with cases from the national courts and from the European Court of Human Rights, where cases deal with (po- tential) violations of human rights or fundamental freedoms regarding the absence of an oral hearing in administrative procedure. The study is explora- tory and interpretative in nature. To examine the research topic, the method of analysis of domestic and international legal texts was utilized. It was neces- sary to assess the administrative procedure rules in both countries included in the research, as well as legal framework of the Council of Europe, in order to examine the issue of oral hearings in administrative disputes and identify ef- fective solutions. Beyond Slovenia and Croatia, further country-specific prac- tices regarding the access to justice in general21 and on the right to an oral hearing was also analysed for the purposes of this paper.22 In addition, empiri- cal research using sociological research methods was conducted to analyse current legal solutions and case law. Data used for this research includes both primary and secondary data: the author analyses prior research, legislation and decisions of the European Court of Human Rights23 and national courts. 20 See for example an comparative analysis of an administrative appeal: Đanić Čeko, A., Kovač, P. (2020). COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF AN ADMINISTRATIVE APPEAL IN CROATIAN, SLO- VENIAN, AND EU LAW. EU and Comparative Law Issues and Challenges Series (ECLIC), 4, pp. 1065–1096. https://doi.org/10.25234/eclic/11940 21 Republics of Austria, Hungary, Lithuania, and Macedonia were analysed in this respect. See: Lachmayer, K., Szente, Z., eds. (2016) The Principle of Effective Legal Protection in Administra- tive Law: A European Perspective. London, Routledge. 22 On Republic of Finland’s civil and appeal procedure see: Kiesiläinen, J. (2008). Effiency and jus- tice in procedural reforms: the rise and fall of the oral hearing, in van Rhee, C., Uzelac, A. (eds.) Civil justice between efficiency and quality: from Ius Commune to the CEPEJ. Intersentia, Ox- ford, pp. 29–45, where a request by a party seems to be enough to arrange the main hearing. On Republic of Austria’s administrative procedures see: Helmreich, M. (2013). Absence of an oral hearing before the Independent Administrative Panel. Vienna Online Journal on Inter- national Constitutional Law, 7(4), pp. 541–546. https://doi.org/10.1515/icl-2013-0407, on the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland see Gordon, A. (2013). Article 6 ECHR, Civil Rights, and the Enduring Role of the Common Law. European Public Law, 19(1), Mills, A. (2012). The Requirement of an Oral Hearing in Judicial Review Claims, Judicial Review, 17(4), pp. 326–329 and Samuels, A. (2005). A Right to an Oral Hearing in Quasi-Judicial Proceedings?. The Cambridge Law Journal, 64(3), pp. 523–527. 23 For a comprehensive overview see: Council of Europe (2022). Guide on Article 6 of the Europe- an Convention on Human Rights. Right to a fair trial (civil limb). Strasbourg. At , accessed 12 November 2023. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023146 Mario Rašić 3 National Legislation For Slovenia - and Croatia also, the General Administrative Procedure Act of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia is the first regulation, dating back from 1930. It was based on the example of the Austrian regulation from 1925. Judicial review of administrative acts was already in force with the Act on the Council of State and Administrative Courts of 1921, based on the French model of administra- tive jurisprudence. Within the next ruling regime, general principles of adminis- trative procedure were introduced in 1946, while the Administrative Disputes Act was in force starting from 1952. A codified federal General Administrative Procedure Act was enacted in 1956, with subsequent modernizations.24 3.1 Slovenia The General Administrative Procedure Act served as the basis of the regula- tion in force in the independent Republic of Slovenia, which was adopted in 1999, with several revisions. A new Administrative Dispute Act was adopted in 1997. Finally, a completely new Administrative Dispute Act was passed in 2006 and came into force in 2007.25 “With regard to the significance and number of administrative procedures, the General Administrative Procedure Act represents one of the most impor- tant acts in the legal system of the Republic of Slovenia. According to the re- cords of the Ministry of Public Administration, around 10 million first-instance administrative decisions are issued in Slovenia every year.”26 A final administrative act can be subject to judicial review before administra- tive courts. The procedure before administrative courts can be initiated by a claim after the administrative act is final. The Slovenian Constitution states that there is a special judicial review procedure of the legality of final indi- vidual acts with which state authorities, local community authorities and bear- ers of public authority decide the rights or obligations and legal interests of individuals and organizations, if other judicial protection is not provided by law for a particular matter.27 The Administrative Court in Slovenia is ruled by the Administrative Dispute Act and is split into 5 departments: Department for public finances; Depart- ment for property relations; Department for protection of constitutional rights; Department for environment, spatial planning and construction; De- partment for customs and other taxes. The seat of the Administrative Court 24 Kerševan, E. (2016). The principle of effective legal protection in administrative law in Slove- nia, in Z. Szente and K. Lachmayer, eds., The Principle of Effective Legal Protection in Adminis- trative Law: A European Perspective. London: Routledge, pp. 266–267. 25 Kerševan, E. (2016). The principle of effective legal protection in administrative law in Slove- nia, in Z. Szente and K. Lachmayer, eds., The Principle of Effective Legal Protection in Adminis- trative Law: A European Perspective. London: Routledge, pp. 266–267. 26 Koprić, I. et al. (2016). Legal remedies in administrative procedures in Western Balkans. Dani- lovgrad: Regional School of Public Administration, p. 60. 27 Article 157, Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia, Official Gazette RS, nb. 33/91-I, 42/97, 66/2000, 24/03, 69/04, 68/06, 47/13, 75/16, 92/21. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 147 Absence of an Oral Hearing in Administrative Disputes: A Comparative Analysis of Slovenia and Croatia is in Ljubljana and deconcentrated departments in Celje, Maribor and Nova Gorica.28 In short, the person entitled to start the administrative dispute as a plaintiff can (with exceptions) only be the person who was a party or an accessory participant in the proceedings of issuing an administrative act, also having le- gitimate interest in starting the proceedings before the Administrative Court. The administrative act can be challenged both regarding factual and legal issues. Finally, legal remedies (namely appeal, revision, and repeated proce- dure) against the decisions by the Administrative Court are decided by the Administrative Chamber of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Slovenia. However, appeals against judgments of the Administrative Court are possible in a rather limited number of cases.29,30 Article 59 (paragraphs 1 to 3) of the Slovenian Administrative Dispute Act regulates the main topic of this paper: “The Administrative Court may issue a decision without holding a hearing if the facts on which the administrative decision is based are uncontested. Regardless of this provision, the court may also decide without holding a hearing, even if there is a dispute regarding the facts of the case between parties, in the following circumstances: 1. if, on the basis of the action, the impugned legal act and the administrative case files, it is apparent complainant’s request shall be granted and the ad- ministrative act shall be annulled in line with Article 64(1) of the Act, whe- reas no third party with opposing interest has participated in the dispute; 2. if new facts and evidence submitted by the parties in their action before the Administrative Court are inadmissible (in accordance with Article 52 of the Act) or not relevant for the decision; 3. if the parties merely propose evidence not necessary to establish disputed facts, in cases those can be established even without reviewing the propo- sed evidence. 4. if the court has already decided on a dispute between the same parties on the same factual and legal basis 5. if the court decides only on the basis of the documents and the parties have agreed that the main hearing does not take place, and the court is not bound by the facts that were established in the process of issuing the administrative act. Regardless of subsection (1), the court shall decide at a hearing if: 28 Čarni, M. and Košak, Š. (2013). A Guide to the Republic of Slovenia Legal System and Legal Research. At , accessed 14 October 2022.; Koprić, I. et al. (2016). Legal remedies in administrative procedures in Western Balkans. Danilovgrad: Regional School of Public Administration, p. 61. 29 Kerševan, E. (2016). The principle of effective legal protection in administrative law in Slove- nia, in Z. Szente and K. Lachmayer, eds., The Principle of Effective Legal Protection in Adminis- trative Law: A European Perspective. London: Routledge, pp. 266–280. 30 Administrative Dispute Act, Official Gazette RS, nb. 105/06, 107/09, 62/10, 98/11, 109/12, 10/17, 49/23. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023148 Mario Rašić 1. it concerns a person who should have participated in the administrative proceedings as party or a third party and it is not a case provided for in subsection (2) of section 229 of the Administrative Procedure Act or a sub- stantially identical provision of another statute governing the procedure of issuing the administrative act; 2. during the administrative proceedings, a party was not able to provide a statement on the facts relevant for the contested decision.”31 3.2 Croatia At the beginning of the 1990s, Croatia also took over the former federal gen- eral administrative procedural law, however with some adaptations. After lengthy preparations for the new General Administrative Procedure Act, the first draft of the new law was prepared in 2008 and the Act finally entered into force in 2010 (Official Gazette HR, nb. 47/09).32 The General Adminis- trative Procedure Act was amended only once afterwards, and the amended framework is in force since January 202233. The new Croatian Administrative Disputes Act34 was adopted two years later, coming into force in 2012. Since then the system of administrative justice has been organized as a two-tier system with four administrative courts of first instance (Zagreb, Split, Rijeka and Osijek) and the High Administrative Court in Zagreb which as a rule decides on the appeals filed against first instance ad- ministrative court decisions.35 The Administrative Dispute Act of 2010 broad- ens the matter of the administrative dispute and ensures legal protection in every administrative procedure.36 The previous Administrative Dispute Act regulated in Article 34 that, as a rule, disputes are solved in a non-public session, while only due to the complexity or clarity of facts of the matter, the court may decide to hold an oral hearing. For the same reasons, the party may also propose an oral hearing.37 However, oral hearings were held quite seldom.38 This setup was not in line with the requirements of Article 6 of the Convention.39 31 Administrative Dispute Act, Official Gazette RS, nb. 105/06, 107/09, 62/10, 98/11, 109/12, 10/17, 49/23 Article 59, paragraphs 1–3. 32 Koprić, I. and Đulabić, V. (2009). Modernizacija općeg upravnog postupka i javne uprave u Hr- vatskoj (Modernisation of the General Administrative Procedure and Public Administration in Croatia). Zagreb: Institut za javnu upravu and Društveno veleučilište. 33 General Administrative Procedure Act, Official Gazette HR, nb. 47/09, 110/21. 34 Administrative Disputes Act, Official Gazette HR, nb. 20/2010, 143/2012, 152/2014, 94/2016, 29/2017, 110/21. 35 Koprić, I. et al. (2016). Legal remedies in administrative procedures in Western Balkans. Dani- lovgrad: Regional School of Public Administration, pp. 62–63. 36 Article 3 Administrative Disputes Act, Official Gazette, nb. 20/2010, 143/2012, 152/2014, 94/2016, 29/2017, 110/21. 37 Administrative Dispute Act, Official Gazette SFRY 4/1977, 36/1977, Official Gazette HR 53/1991, 9/1992, 77/1992. 38 Đerđa, D. and Kryska, D. (2018). Neka rješenja upravnog spora u usporednom pravu: kako unaprijediti hrvatski upravni spor?. Zbornik Pravnog fakulteta Sveučilišta u Rijeci, 39(1), pp. 91–126. 39 Britvić Vetma, B. (2012). Europska konvencija za zaštitu ljudskih prava (članak 6) i Zakon o upra- vnim sporovima iz 2010. Zbornik radova Pravnog fakulteta u Splitu, 49(2), pp. 395-410. https:// hrcak.srce.hr/84239 Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 149 Absence of an Oral Hearing in Administrative Disputes: A Comparative Analysis of Slovenia and Croatia The principle of the oral hearing is provided for, as a general rule, in Article 7 of the Croatian Administrative Dispute Act. “In an administrative dispute, the court shall decide in an oral, direct and public hearing. Courts may adjudicate in an administrative dispute without holding an oral hearing only in the cases laid down further in the Act”40, especially in articles 36 and 73. “The court may resolve a dispute by a decision without holding a hearing: 1. if the respondent acknowledged the statement of claim in full; 2. in a case where the adjudication is based on a final judgment rendered in a model dispute41; 3. if the court establishes that a particular decision, action or administrative contract is defect so that it prevents an assessment of its lawfulness; 4. if the complainant disputes only the application of law, the facts of the case are indisputable, and if the parties in the complaint or in the response to a claim do not have request for holding a hearing. 5. if the parties explicitly agree to adjudicate without holding a hearing, and the court finds that it is not necessary to present new evidence.”42 “The High Administrative Court decides about the appeals at council sessions, without holding a discussion. If the High Administrative Court deems necessary, it may hold a hearing.”43 Above regulations, indeed, represent a derogation from the oral hearing prin- ciple as set out in Article 7 in favour of the principle of efficiency. 4 European Court of Human Rights “The European Court of Human Rights44 is an international court set up in 1959. It rules on individual or State applications alleging violations of the civil and political rights set out in the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.”45 Since its establishment in 1959, the Court has delivered more than 24.500 judgments.46 These are binding on the countries concerned and have led gov- ernments to alter their legislation and administrative practice in a wide range 40 Article 7 Administrative Disputes Act, Official Gazette, nb. 20/2010, 143/2012, 152/2014, 94/2016, 29/2017, 110/21. 41 Model dispute solution is regulated in Article 48 of the Administrative Dispute Act. Due to the content limitation of this paper, the model dispute is not inspected in detail. 42 Article 36 of the Croatian Administrative Dispute Act. The 5th subparagraph was added in additions to the Act in 2012, as well as the wording “substantial law” was amended by deleting “substantial” in the 4th subparagraph. See more: Staničić, F., Britvić Vetma, B. and Horvat, B. (2017). Komentar Zakona u upravnim sporovima. Zagreb: Narodne novine, pp. 131–134. 43 Ibid. Article 73. 44 Also referred to as European Court, the Court or ECtHR further in the paper. 45 Council of Europe, European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamen- tal Freedoms, as amended by Protocols Nos. 11 and 14, 4 November 1950, referred also as European Convention on Human Rights and the Convention further in the article. 46 European Court of Human Rights (2022). Overview 1959-2021 ECHR. Strasbourg: Council of Europe. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023150 Mario Rašić of areas. The Court’s case-law makes the Convention an adaptable living in- strument for surpassing new challenges and consolidating the rule of law and democracy in Europe. 4.1 Article 6 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms Article 6 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms can be understood as a set of rights within the system of the European Court of Human Rights and is very important when it comes to the principle of effective legal protection in administrative procedures and disputes. “Article 6(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights provides that, in the determination of their civil rights and obligations, everyone is en- titled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law.”47 Administrative procedures are strongly influenced by the guarantees of the European Convention on Hu- man Rights, especially through the procedural guarantees under the Article 6(1) of the Convention. Although the guarantees only apply to procedures concerning “civil” and “criminal” matters, both fields have been subject to an extensive interpretation through the Court’s decisions.48 The European Court of Human Rights has held that even in relatively trivial cases, a party cannot generally be denied a public hearing in court procedures aimed at simplifying or expediting cases.49 In addition, the European Court of Human Rights concluded in Fischer v. Austria that, unless there are excep- tional circumstances that justify dispensing with a hearing, the right to a pub- lic hearing under Article 6(1) implies a right to an oral hearing at least at one level of jurisdiction.50 The exceptional character of the circumstances that may justify not holding any oral hearing in proceedings concerning a “civil” right is closely related to the nature of the meritum that had to be adjudicated by the competent tri- bunal. This does not mean that refusing to hold an oral hearing may be justi- fied only in rare cases. Such prime examples are cases where the proceedings concerned exclusively legal or highly technical issues.51 “There may be proceedings in which an oral hearing may not be required. For example, where there are no issues of credibility or contested facts which 47 Council of Europe, European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamen- tal Freedoms, as amended by Protocols Nos. 11 and 14, 4 November 1950, Article 6(1). 48 Breuer, M. (2016). Creating a European-wide standard of effective legal protection: The Euro- pean Convention on Human Rights, in Z. Szente and K. Lachmayer, eds., The Principle of Effec- tive Legal Protection in Administrative Law : A European Perspective. London: Routledge, pp. 42–46. See more: Šarin, D. (2015). Pravo na pristup sudu u praksi Europskog suda za ljudska prava. Pravni vjesnik, 31(3-4), pp. 269–271. 49 Scarth v. The United Kingdom, Application no. 33745/96 (ECtHR, 22 July 1999). 50 Fischer v. Austria Application no. 16922/90 (ECtHR, 26 April 1995). 51 Cases in question are, for example SchulerZgraggen v. Switzerland, Application no. 14518/89 (ECtHR 24 June 1993), Varela Assalino v. Portugal, Application no. 64336/01 (ECtHR 25 April 2002) and Speil v. Austria (dec.), Application no. 42057/98 (ECtHR 5 September 2002). Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 151 Absence of an Oral Hearing in Administrative Disputes: A Comparative Analysis of Slovenia and Croatia necessitate a hearing and the courts may fairly and reasonably decide the case on the basis of the parties’ submissions and other written materials.”52 4.2 Summary of data Data shows that a total of 964 cases were solved by the European Court of Human Rights which concerned breaches of Article 6 specifically in adminis- trative proceedings. 814 of them were judged as violations of the article.53 A total of 40 cases concerning breaches of the right to oral hearing appeared before the European Court of Human Rights. 28 of them were concluded as breaches due to the absence of an oral hearing. Interestingly, 16 violations were found in Austria,54 5 in Sweden and one from Czech Republic, Finland, France, North Macedonia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey. As for the Court’s case law regarding the Republic of Croatia, the Court decid- ed on 18 violations of the Article 6 in administrative proceedings. However, there were no absence of oral hearing violations. As for the Republic of Slovenia, six (6) cases in which violations of Article 6 in the administrative proceedings occurred, with the only absence of an oral hearing breach was in the Mirovni inštitut case55. The case of Produkcija plus stvoritveno podjetje d.o.o. was categorized as a criminal procedure, but con- tains principles and implications applicable within administrative disputes, hence it was analysed.56 5 Analysis and Discussion 5.1 Slovenian cases This part of the paper briefly introduces and analyses the two key cases of breaches of the right to an oral hearing which concern the Republic of Slo- venia before the European Court of Human Rights: Mirovni Inštitut and Produkcija Plus storitveno podjetje d.o.o. cases. 5.1.1 Mirovni Inštitut v. Slovenia In this case, the applicant institute alleged that the lack of reasoning in a deci- sion of the Administrative Court and the absence of an oral hearing before 52 See Döry v. Sweden, Application no. 28394/95 (ECtHR 12 November 2002). Note that the case concerns the civil limb. 53 Data extracted from the HUDOC database website https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng, accessed 17 September 2022. It is important to note that Committee decisions appeared on HUDOC only as of April 2010. Decisions concerning single judge cases are not published. Commission decisions prior to 1960 exist in hard copy only in the Court Archives. 54 This might be the case since Austria’s administrative dispute system regulates that the oral hearing is an exception, rather than a rule. See more in: Đerđa, D. (2010). Sudske odluke u up- ravnom sporu - pozitivno i buduće pravno uređenje. Zbornik Pravnog fakulteta u Rijeci, 31(1), pp. 459-460. 55 Mirovni Inštitut v. Slovenia, Application no. 32303/1 (ECtHR 13 June 2018). 56 Produkcija Plus storitveno podjetje d.o.o. v. Slovenia, Application no. 47072/15, (ECtHR 3 Jan- uary 2019). Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023152 Mario Rašić it amounted to a violation of the right to a fair trial under Article 6(1) of the Convention.57 Mirovni inštitut is a private institute that carries out research in the field of social sciences. The case dates back to 2003 when the Slovenian Ministry of Educaton, Science and Sport (Ministry) made two calls for tenders for making financial awards for scientific research projects, on which the Mirovni Inštitut submitted a tender. The tenders were joined into one proceeding by the Min- istry without explanation and eventually awarded to three other subjects. Mirovni Inštitut subsequently lodged several actions against the Ministry: it argued, inter alia, that the evaluation procedure had been unfair because some of the evaluators had been biased, as shown by the fact that only those research programmes in which the evaluators were leaders or members of re- search teams obtained financing. The applicant institute expressly requested a hearing at which witnesses could be heard with regard to the alleged proce- dural errors in the evaluation of the programmes. Additionally, it submitted a letter which one of the witnesses, K., had sent to the Minister and several other addressees in which K. notified them of problems he had detected in the tender procedures in which he had participated as an evaluator.58 After the parties had exchanged a number of written submissions, the Admin- istrative Court, without holding a hearing, dismissed the action. In its decision of 2 February 2011, the court gave an extensive account of the proceedings before the Ministry and the submissions of both parties. The reasons for the decision were given on a single page. Invoking section 71(2) of the Slovenian Administrative Dispute Act, the Administrative Court chiefly referred to the submissions of the Ministry. It considered, inter alia, that the Ministry had not acted unlawfully in joining the proceedings. No reasons were given for not holding a hearing. None of the evidence relied on by the applicant institute in their appeal was acknowledged or referred to in the court’s reasoning.59 The Inštitut lodged an appeal on points of law and complained that the Ad- ministrative Court had not held a hearing even though the facts of the case had been contested, and the applicant institute had explicitly requested a hearing at which witnesses could be heard. It also argued that the Adminis- trative Court had failed to address its allegations that errors had been made in the evaluation procedure, and complained that insufficient reasoning had been given for the decision. The Supreme Court rejected the appeal as inad- missible. No reasons were given in its decision on the merits of the applicant institute’s complaints. Finally, the applicant institute then lodged a constitu- tional complaint, which was dismissed as the Constitutional court found that it did not concern an important constitutional question or entail a violation of human rights with serious consequences for the applicant institute.60 57 Mirovni Inštitut v. Slovenia, Application no. 32303/1 (ECtHR 13 June 2018), paragraph §4. 58 Mirovni Inštitut v. Slovenia, Application no. 32303/1 (ECtHR 13 June 2018), paragraphs § 8-11. 59 Mirovni Inštitut v. Slovenia, Application no. 32303/1 (ECtHR 13 June 2018), paragraphs § 12-13. 60 Mirovni Inštitut v. Slovenia, Application no. 32303/1 (ECtHR 13 June 2018), paragraphs §14-17. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 153 Absence of an Oral Hearing in Administrative Disputes: A Comparative Analysis of Slovenia and Croatia The Court ruled the application admissible, as the applicant institute clearly enjoyed a procedural right to the lawful and correct adjudication of the ten- ders. Furthermore, should the tender be awarded to the applicant institute, the latter would have been conferred a civil right. After granting the applica- tion admissible, the European Court of Human Rights considered the merits of the application.61 The Court reiterated that: “in proceedings before a court of first and only instance, the right to a “public hearing” within the meaning of Article 6(1) en- tails an entitlement to an “oral hearing” unless there are exceptional circum- stances that justify dispensing with such a hearing. In proceedings before two instances, at least one instance must, in general, provide such a hearing if no such exceptional circumstances are at hand.62 In Slovenia, the Administrative Court is the first judicial instance and the only one with full jurisdiction (not only limited to law but to factual issues). As: 1. the facts were disputed by the parties in this case, 2. the Inštitut explicitly requested an oral hearing, 3. presenting further evidence (hearing witness K, inter alia) could have been relevant for the outcome of the proceedings and 4. the Administrative Court neither acknowledged the applicant institute’s request that a hearing be held, nor gave any reasons (or a legal basis) for not granting the request, the European Court of Human Rights concluded correctly that the proceed- ings were not fair and that, accordingly, there has been a violation of Article 6(1) of the Convention.63 5.1.2 Produkcija Plus storitveno podjetje d.o.o. v. Slovenia In this case, the applicant, Produkcija plus storitveno podjetje d.o.o. (a private media company) alleged that Articles 6 and 13 of the Convention had been breached on account of the lack of an oral hearing, the lack of opportunity to be heard, and have witnesses examined on its behalf. The proceedings con- cerned the imposition of a fine for the obstruction of an inspection and pro- ceedings concerning a violation of competition rules.64 On 10 August 2011, the Competition Protection Office (later the Competi- tion Protection Agency, hereinafter referred to as “Office”) initiated proceed- ings against the applicant company following a complaint from two television stations that the applicant company had abused its dominant position. On the same day, the Office issued an order to inspect the premises, which con- tained a warning that if the inspection was obstructed, an order imposing a 61 Mirovni Inštitut v. Slovenia, Application no. 32303/1 (ECtHR 13 June 2018), paragraphs §28-30. 62 Fröbrich v. Germany, Application no. 23621/11, (ECtHR 16 March 2017), paragraph §34. 63 Mirovni Inštitut v. Slovenia, Application no. 32303/1 (ECtHR 13 June 2018), paragraph §45. 64 Produkcija Plus storitveno podjetje d.o.o. v. Slovenia Application no. 47072/15, (ECtHR 3 Jan- uary 2019), paragraph §3. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023154 Mario Rašić fine amounting up to 1% of the applicant company’s annual turnover in the preceding business year could be issued.65 During the inspection, the officers were apparently assaulted and asked to leave the premises by Mr P., who worked as a contractor for the company and refused to allow them to continue the inspection. According to the report, at 9.31 a.m., the officers left the building because they believed that the in- spection would not be possible without police assistance. At 9.57 a.m., after the arrival of the police, the officers again entered the applicant company’s premises. At 10 a.m. Mr V. arrived. He apologized for the inconvenience and was willing to cooperate. At 10.45 a.m., the officers started the inspection, which was then carried out without any obstructive behaviour on the part of the applicant company. By an order of 21 February 2012 the Office fined the applicant company 105.000 euros (EUR), 0.2% of the company’s annual net turnover in the preceding year, for obstructing the inspection on 11 August 2011. The obstruction had been Mr P.’s unwillingness to cooperate with of- ficers and to immediately facilitate access to evidence and its preservation.66 On 22 March 2012, the applicant company brought an action and an applica- tion for an interim measure against the above order. The applicant requested an oral hearing, maintaining that a direct examination of the evidence was required to properly establish the facts of the case. In particular, the four wit- nesses who had been present at the premises on the day of the alleged ob- struction would prove that the applicant company had not obstructed the inspection or refused to cooperate with the officers. They would also show that the officers had not properly introduced themselves and had tried to enter the premises in an aggressive manner.67 On 26 November 2013, the Supreme Court dismissed the applicant compa- ny’s action. It noted from the outset that the applicant company was not al- lowed to introduce new facts and evidence in the judicial review proceedings and that they would not be taken into consideration. The court emphasised that although the applicant company had contested the facts as established by the Office, it had not challenged the fact that the officers could not im- mediately after their arrival at the company’s premises secure the evidence. According to the Supreme Court, the applicant company had merely argued that the above-described acts had not constituted an obstruction of the in- spection. In the Supreme Court’s opinion, this was not a question of fact but purely of law. The only important fact was that the authorised persons could not immediately start securing the evidence. Finally, the applicant institute then lodged a constitutional complaint, which was not accepted, as the Con- stitutional Court found that it did not concern an important constitutional 65 Produkcija Plus storitveno podjetje d.o.o. v. Slovenia Application no. 47072/15, (ECtHR 3 Jan- uary 2019), paragraphs §6-7. 66 Produkcija Plus storitveno podjetje d.o.o. v. Slovenia Application no. 47072/15, (ECtHR 3 Jan- uary 2019), paragraphs §8-10. 67 Produkcija Plus storitveno podjetje d.o.o. v. Slovenia Application no. 47072/15, (ECtHR 3 Jan- uary 2019), paragraph §11. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 155 Absence of an Oral Hearing in Administrative Disputes: A Comparative Analysis of Slovenia and Croatia question or entail a violation of human rights with serious consequences for the applicant institute.68 In the proceedings related to the determination of a violation of competition rules (supervision proceedings), on 24 April 2013 the Agency decided that the applicant company had been abusing its dominant position. It refused to hold a hearing on the grounds that it was not necessary to hear the witnesses proposed by the applicant company, and that the applicant company had suf- ficient opportunity to present its case in writing.69 On 24 May 2013, the applicant company filed an action against the Agency’s infringement decision, asserting that the Agency had violated its right to ad- versarial proceedings and to defend itself. It also urged the Supreme Court to examine the proposed witnesses at an oral hearing. On 3 December 2013, the Supreme Court dismissed the action. It held that the examination of the witnesses proposed by the applicant was unnecessary. This was because the facts of the case had already been fully established by the Agency, which had provided logical and convincing reasons for each of the central issues in dis- pute. Consequently, it refused to hold a hearing. Subsequently, the Constitu- tional Court also rejected the appeal.70 The Court reiterated that an oral, and public, hearing constitutes a fundamen- tal principle enshrined in Article 6(1) and that it is particularly important in the criminal context, where an accused has an entitlement to have his case “heard”, with the opportunity, inter alia, to give evidence in his own defence, hear the evidence against him, and examine and cross-examine the witness- es. The Court also reflected on the fact that, despite the applicant company expressly requesting that a hearing be held, the Supreme Court neither ac- knowledged the request nor gave any reasons for not granting it. That is even more necessary as the Supreme Court was the first and only tribunal to exam- ine the applicant company’s case, and as such, it was required under Article 6(1) of the Convention to examine not only the legal aspects of the case but also to review the facts (full jurisdiction) on which the applicant company’s punishment was based and which the applicant company disputed.71 Conclusively, the European Court of Human Rights found that the applicant company was deprived of a right to have the factual aspects of the adminis- trative decision issued against it reviewed by the tribunal with full jurisdiction and that the Article 6(1) of the Convention had been violated.72 68 Produkcija Plus storitveno podjetje d.o.o. v. Slovenia Application no. 47072/15, (ECtHR 3 Jan- uary 2019), paragraphs §12-15. 69 Produkcija Plus storitveno podjetje d.o.o. v. Slovenia Application no. 47072/15, (ECtHR 3 Jan- uary 2019), paragraphs §17-18. 70 Produkcija Plus storitveno podjetje d.o.o. v. Slovenia Application no. 47072/15, (ECtHR 3 Jan- uary 2019), paragraphs §19-21. 71 Produkcija Plus storitveno podjetje d.o.o. v. Slovenia Application no. 47072/15, (ECtHR 3 Jan- uary 2019), paragraphs §53-58, Žuber, B., Lovšin, Š. (2019). Judicial dialogue in the light of protocol no. 16 to the European Convention on Human Rights. Zbornik Pravnog fakulteta Sveučilišta u Rijeci, vol. 40 (2), pp. 914–915. 72 Produkcija Plus storitveno podjetje d.o.o. v. Slovenia Application no. 47072/15, (ECtHR 3 Jan- uary 2019), paragraphs §59–60, Žuber, B., Lovšin, Š. (2019). Judicial dialogue in the light of Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023156 Mario Rašić After analysing both cases, it is evident that the applicant received somewhat unsatisfactory remuneration despite the decision of the European Court of Human Rights decided in favour of their application. The main reason is that the Slovenian Administrative Dispute Act does not envisage in its Article 96 (Renewal of the procedure) that renewal is possible if, following a final judg- ment of the European Court of Human Rights, it was decided on a violation of fundamental human right or freedom in a way different from the judg- ment of the court. The Croatian Administrative Dispute Act foresees the ex- act wording as ground for renewal of the procedure73. Therefore, it would be useful if the Slovenian Administrative Dispute Act were amended to provide this option to applicants whose rights have been found violated before the European Court of Human Rights. 5.2 Croatian cases The Republic of Croatia did not have any administrative proceedings that in- volved a breach of the right to an oral hearing, as outlined in the Article 6(1) of the Convention. There was a case relating to civil law matters in which the right to an oral hearing had been violated.74 However, civil and criminal mat- ters fall beyond the scope of this this paper. In a case that appeared in second instance at the High Administrative Court, the applicant was awarded a right to an oral hearing which was denied at the Administrative Court level. The Administrative Court was erred in applying the provision of the Article 36(4) of the Administrative Dispute Act, as the Court deemed that the complainant contested only the application of sub- stantive law, the facts of the case were indisputable, and neither party in the complaint nor in the response to the claim had requested holding a hearing. In the concrete case regarding health security rights, the applicant requested the reference of an expert to be provided as evidence. Therefore, the High Administrative Court rightly decided that the Article 36(4) had been wrong- fully invoked by the first instance court.75 In a case before the Constitutional Court, the applicant was granted invalidity pension due to illness. However, the applicant considered herself healthy and therefore contested the administrative decision, the Administrative Court in Rijeka’s decision as a judicial body of first instance, and the High Administrative Court’s decision which also confirmed the invalidity pension. The applicant dis- puted the expert’s opinion and the medical documentation. As the applicant contested facts, she expected that a hearing in front of the court would be held, what she also noted in the appeal on the Administrative Court’s decision. The applicant argued in the appeal that there were no legal terms to invoke Article 36(4) of the Administrative Dispute Act since the facts of the case were protocol no. 16 to the European Convention on Human Rights. Zbornik Pravnog fakulteta Sveučilišta u Rijeci, vol. 40 (2), pp. 914–915. 73 Article 76 of Croatian Administrative Disputes Act, Official Gazette HR, nb. 20/2010, 143/2012, 152/2014, 94/2016, 29/2017, 110/21. 74 Adžić v. Croatia, Application no. 19601/16 (ECtHR 02 August 2019) 75 High Administrative Court of the Republic of Croatia, case Usž-1927/15-8, 30 November 2016. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 157 Absence of an Oral Hearing in Administrative Disputes: A Comparative Analysis of Slovenia and Croatia not indisputable. The High Administrative Court argued that the applicant did not provide any new evidence necessary to determine the facts on which her assumptions were based on. Therefore, and also since neither party requested an oral hearing (the applicant merely “expected” one at the Administrative Court level, only what she composed in writing), there was indeed a legal basis to adjudicate without a hearing. Subsequently, the Court rejected the claims of the applicant. The Constitutional Court agreed with the former decisions on the grounds that the applicant had failed to propose any evidence for the courts to assess and also did not explicitly request a hearing.76 In a recent case, the Constitutional Court reiterated the principle when the dispute concerns only a legal issue, and not factual matters that are undis- puted, the administrative courts do not violate any human rights or the Con- stitution by not holding an oral hearing, referring to Article 36(4) of the Ad- ministrative Dispute Act.77 Also, Croatia envisaged that the court of first instance shall provide an oral hearing and may only exceptionally deny it within its rights set by law. At the High Administrative Court’s level, the oral hearing is an exception, but still allowed if the Court deems it necessary. The solution is in par with the vision of the ECtHR and an oral hearing is very likely to occur at the first instance un- less it is clearly not required, if one of the reasons outlined in Article 36 of the Administrative Dispute Act is applicable. 78 A potential issue may arise in procedures where it is not envisaged to file a complaint at the administrative court level, but directly before the High Ad- ministrative Court (similar situation is with the Slovenian Supreme Court) as a body of first (and only) judicial instance authorised to resolve the administra- tive dispute. Such a procedure is the public procurement procedure, where the entire process may remain without an oral hearing prior to the dispute be- fore the High Administrative Court following a complaint against the decision of the State Commission for Supervision of Public Procurement Procedures (DKOM) 79, because, as mentioned supra, the High Administrative Court holds oral hearings only if it deems it necessary.80 76 Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, case U-III-357/2017, 25 April 2018. 77 Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, case U-III/4581/2016, 29 March 2018. 78 Britvić Vetma considers this requirement fulfilled within the current Croatian legislative framework. Britvić Vetma, B. (2012). Europska konvencija za zaštitu ljudskih prava (članak 6) i Zakon o upravnim sporovima iz 2010. Zbornik radova Pravnog fakulteta u Splitu, 49(2), pp. 405-406. https://hrcak.srce.hr/84239. See also Döry v. Sweden, Application no. 28394/95 (ECtHR 12 November 2002). 79 The Croatian State Commission for Supervision of Public Procurement Procedures may opt not to hold an oral hearing, even when there is a plea for an oral hearing made by either of the parties involved. Article 427 in relation to Article 434 of the Public Procurement Act, Official Gazette HR n. 120/16, 114/22. 80 Article 73(3) of the Croatian Administrative Disputes Act, Official Gazette HR, nb. 20/2010, 143/2012, 152/2014, 94/2016, 29/2017, 110/21. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023158 Mario Rašić 6 Conclusion As some authors assert that “administrative law is a concretised constitutional law”81, effective legal protection becomes a necessity, especially for parties, which are hierarchically in a subordinate position. Despite administrative courts in Croatia and Slovenia may, within their scope of authorities, use their discretion given by law when deciding not to enable oral hearings before the court, procedural justice and equality of arms should prevail, even when there is no obvious need for oral hearings, if one of the parties requests appearing in front of the court. Also, in administrative cases within the general administrative procedure, the parties are in principle in an unfair hierarchical relationship. Enabling oral hearings should be emphasized especially during administrative disputes, as the asymmetry of parties in ad- ministrative procedures prior to the administrative dispute could still be pre- sent without an oral hearing. Regarding de lege ferenda, it should reiterated that the right to be heard is a fundamental procedural right. Subjects not allowed an oral hearing, as a vital instrument of the whole concept of a right to a fair trial, need to be provided with improved protective rights to avoid cases of illegal absence of an oral hearing from occurring and procedural rights in view of reopening the case where a severe violation has been found, Subjects are entitled to an oral hearing to resolve a dispute of any substance between themselves and the state. At the very least, appellants should have an opportunity to be heard, to understand the process and have confidence in the fairness of the process as a whole. Therefore, in most cases, administra- tive procedures and disputes should require an oral hearing before at least one instance. Additionally, hearings before the first instance administrative court would almost always ensure the right to a fair trial. Accordingly, to ensure that oral hearings are not arbitrarily refused, they should be obligatory unless the parties agree to waive their right. It should be mandated that an administrative court of full jurisdiction must hold an oral hearing upon request from a party, whether explicit or implied. Based on the conducted analysis, both Slovenian and Croatian legal frameworks should con- sider including provisions allowing for oral hearings before the first instance if requested so by any party submitting or disputing evidence and facts or contesting legal or procedural matters, unless the parties waive their right in writing. This would ensure respecting Article 6(1) of the Convention in almost every case, and would also be in line with practices from the United Kingdom in relation to procedures before final tribunals of full jurisdiction, where the legislative framework in principle “contemplates that agreement is required to proceed without an oral hearing whenever there is a decision which would constitute the end of the case”.82 Another example is the Hungarian General 81 Werner, F. (1959). Verwaltungsrecht als konkretisiertes Verfassungsrecht. Deutsches Verwal- tungsblatt, vol. 74, pp. 527–533. 82 Mills, A. (2012). The Requirement of an Oral Hearing in Judicial Review Claims, Judicial Review, 17(4), pp. 326–329, DOI: 10.1080/10854681.2012.11426747. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 159 Absence of an Oral Hearing in Administrative Disputes: A Comparative Analysis of Slovenia and Croatia Rules of Administrative Procedures and Services which grants the parties with a right to be heard without exceptions.83 The literature review showed the tendency towards narrowing down the right to an oral hearing84 and the focus seems to be switching on ensuring a fair trial within a reasonable time. Some authors also indicate that oral hear- ings could sometimes be difficult to organize and would result in prolonged adjudication or higher expenses.85 This finding is contrary to other studies which have shown that both very quick and very lenient judicial decision mak- ing processes produce more uncertainty for both the parties and the general public, with “timely” being the preferred outcome.86 To take into account both arguments, a reasonable approach to tackle this issue for both legal frameworks would be to regulate that administrative courts should provide a detailed justification in writing as to why they have dispensed with an oral hearing despite one of the parties requested it. Such a provision would have prevented the Mirovni Inštitut case from being brought before the European Court of Human Rights. The same requirement could also be extended to respective general administrative procedures. Another consideration could be to allow lex specialis to determine any spe- cial types of shortened or emergency procedures87 where oral hearings could be dispensed with due to the protection of public interest.88 For this recom- mendation, authorities could add a similar safeguard as found in Article 24(4) of the Austrian Federal Act on Proceedings of Administrative Courts which explicitly requires that dispensing with a hearing in spite of a party’s request must not be contrary to Article 6(1) of the Convention and Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.89 Finally, for the Republic of Slovenia, in relations to reopening the case where a severe violation has been found, better protection on the national level in 83 Gárdos-Orosz, F. and Temesi, I. (2016). The principle of effective legal protection in Hungarian administrative law, in Z. Szente and K. Lachmayer, eds., The Principle of Effective Legal Protec- tion in Administrative Law : A European Perspective. London: Routledge, p. 165. 84 For example in the Republic of Austria, Helmreich, M. (2013). Absence of an oral hearing be- fore the Independent Administrative Panel. Vienna Online Journal on International Constitu- tional Law, 7(4), pp. 543–546. On the decision level of the ECtHR, see Lillo Lobos, R. (2022). Understanding due process in non-criminal matters: how to harmonize procedural guarantees with the right to access to justice. Springer, p. 143. 85 Samuels, A. (2005). A Right to an Oral Hearing in Quasi-Judicial Proceedings?. The Cambridge Law Journal, 64(3), pp. 523–527. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4500818. 86 Valkeapaa, A., Seppala, T. (2014). Speed of Decision-Making as a Procedural Justice Principle. Social Justice Research, 27. p. 305; Outlaw, R. et al. (2019). How Fair versus How Long: An Integrative Theory-Based Examination of Procedural Justice and Procedural Timeliness. Per- sonnel Psychology, 72(3), pp. 361–386. 87 Gordon indicates that national security seems to be the main justification for limiting the right to a hearing in the United Kingdom. See: Gordon, A. (2013). Article 6 ECHR, Civil Rights, and the Enduring Role of the Common Law. European Public Law, 19(1), pp. 75–96. 88 Szente, Z. (2016). The principle of effective legal protection in administrative law – a com- parison, in in Z. Szente and K. Lachmayer, eds., The Principle of Effective Legal Protection in Administrative Law: A European Perspective. London: Routledge, pp. 356–393. 89 Article 24(4) of the Austrian Federal Act on Proceedings of Administrative Courts (Origi- nal version: Federal Law Gazette I No. 33/2013, as amended by: Federal Law Gazette I No. 109/2021). It is worth noting that the concrete provision can be applied only if an oral discus- sion would not further clarify the legal matter. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023160 Mario Rašić which cases such as Mirovni Inštitut and Produkcija plus may fully enjoy the rights as given in the Article 15(4) of the Slovenian Constitution (which ex- pressly guarantees the right to obtain redress for any violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms) may be provided if the Slovenian Admin- istrative Dispute Act added the clause for applying for renewal in situations when in a final judgment of the European Court of Human Rights it was de- cided on a violation of fundamental human right or freedom in a way differ- ent from the judgment of the court – as the Croatian Administrative Disputes Act regulates. However, the de lege ferenda proposal for broadening the obligation for oral hearings in administrative law should not be assessed as a separate element, but also taking into account its public policy implications in the context of the overall reform of the judicial system. Although international organizations clarify that the “European Administrative Space” encompasses the right a hearing in administrative decision making procedures90, extending the right to a hearing and obliging authorities to justify each dispense of that right could add another layer of formalization of the procedures and affect their overall length. This could be seen as contrary to the conclusions of some authors that administrative proceedings should use the simplest available (preferably digi- tal) solutions in to conclude files within reasonable time.91 This could, in turn, ultimately lead to a less positive perception of the public administrations and judiciary in the eyes of the general public. However, assessed literature and cases show that omitting the right to an oral hearing, especially without pro- viding written justification, could ultimately lead to more detrimental – and longer – outcomes. The social and public policy impact assessment of adding de lege ferenda provisions is an issue that was not addressed in this paper, but could pose an important topic for further research. The information and views set out in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the Institution. 90 OECD (1999). European Principles for Public Administration. SIGMA Papers, 27. Paris. 91 Rozczynski, B. (2022). Simplification and Electronisation of Administrative Procedure in the Visegrad Group Countries – a Sociological and Legal Approach. 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Judicial dialogue in the light of protocol no. 16 to the European Convention on Human Rights. Zbornik Pravnog fakulteta Sveučilišta u Rijeci, 40 (2), pp. 899–925. 165 2591-2259 / This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Povzetki (Summaries in Slovenian Language) 1. Nesebičnost: mednarodna primerjalna analiza ene ključnih javnih vrednot Christina W. Andrews, Michiel de Vries Namen tega prispevka je proučiti način za merjenje in razjasnitev pojma ne- sebičnost. Z uporabo inovativnega pristopa k merjenju nesebičnosti ocenjujemo njeno prisotnost v različnih regijah po svetu. Raziskujemo tudi dejavnike, ki prispe- vajo k njenemu pojavu, in njihov medsebojen vpliv pri napovedovanju njene prisotnosti. Stopnja nesebičnosti se po svetu precej razlikuje. Tako ugotavlja- mo, da na verjetnost, da bo posameznik izkazoval nesebičnost, močno vpliva regija, v kateri prebiva, pomembno vlogo pa ima tudi delovno mesto – v drža- vah OECD delo v javnem sektorju povečuje nagnjenost k nesebičnosti, v Afriki pa je ravno nasprotno. Zasnova raziskave vključuje multivariatno analizo podatkov iz Svetovne raz- iskave vrednot, pri čemer uporablja enostavne regresijske analize in binarno logistično regresijo. Glavne ugotovitve kažejo, da se vpliv dejavnikov, ki tradicionalno veljajo za pomembne, kot sta verska pripadnost in zaposlitev v javnem, zasebnem ali ne- profitnem sektorju, med posameznimi regijami razlikuje. Interakcijski učinki, značilni za posamezno regijo, se kažejo na primer pri vplivu delovnega mesta na nagnjenost k nesebičnosti. Zaposleni v javnem sektorju bodo precej bolj verjetno nesebični kot njihovi kolegi v zasebnem sektorju, toda medtem ko delo v javnem sektorju povečuje verjetnost nesebičnosti v državah OECD, je v Afriki ravno obratno. V prejšnjih akademskih študijah je bilo takšnim interakcijskim učinkom posve- čeno le malo pozornosti. Prevladovala je domneva, da je vpliv verske pripa- dnosti, zaposlitve v javnem sektorju, spola itd. po vsem svetu enak. Ta študija pa dokazuje nasprotno. Kar zadeva praktične posledice, rezultati naših analiz kažejo, da je predvsem pomembno, da so raziskave o vrednotah kontekstualizirane. To še posebej ve- lja, kadar želimo svetovati izvajalcem na določenem področju. Naša raziskava je pokazala, da lahko isti dejavniki, ki krepijo nesebičnost v enem delu sveta, zmanjšajo njeno prisotnost v drugih regijah, zato univerzalen pristop nikakor ni ustrezen. Ključne besede: javne vrednote, nesebičnost, primerjalna analiza, interakcijski učin- ki, regionalni vpliv Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023166 Povzetki 2. Odnos podjetij do korupcije v izbranih srednjeevropskih državah Nenad Vretenar, Ana Marija Filipas, Martina Briš Alić Namen: Korupcija je prisotna po vsem svetu, tudi v srednjeevropskih državah, ki na tem področju še vedno zaostajajo za vodilnimi državami EU (glede na Svetovne kazalnike upravljanja 2023). Ker je samo korupcijo težko izmeriti, beležimo predvsem percepcije korupcije. Cilj prispevka je analizirati odnos do korupcije v izbranih srednjeevropskih državah in oblikovati zaključke o dejavni- kih, ki vplivajo na zaznavo korupcije. Raziskava, ki se osredotoča na razlike med pravno-formalno in dejansko preglednostjo, je zajela Češko, Madžarsko in Poljsko kot države z manjšimi razlikami ter Hrvaško, Slovaško in Slovenijo kot države z večjimi razlikami med pravno-formalno in dejansko preglednostjo. Zasnova/metodologija/pristop: Na podlagi podatkov Eurobarometra smo z logistično regresijo analizirali odnos do korupcije v obeh skupinah držav, ki ju sestavljajo po tri srednjeevropske države z večjimi ali manjšimi razlikami med pravno-formalno in dejansko preglednostjo. Iz vsake skupine smo oblikovali po en model, tj. model 1 in model 2, s skupnim številom opazovanj 901 oziro- ma 902. Modela sta izkazala primerne indekse ustreznosti in omogočila napo- vedi, na podlagi katerih smo lahko oblikovali svoje zaključke. Vsi anketiranci so bili predstavniki podjetij na odločevalskih položajih, kar zagotavlja, da rezulta- ti odražajo percepcije podjetij in ne splošne javnosti. Ugotovitve: Odnos do korupcije v proučevanih državah je povezan s percep- cijo klientelizma in nepotizma v podjetjih, percepcijo korupcije pri javnih naro- čilih, zaznavanjem povezav med politiko in podjetji ter odnosom do davkov. V skupini, kjer je razlika med pravno-formalno in dejansko stopnjo preglednosti majhna, je odnos podjetij do korupcije odvisen tudi od tega, kako ustrezna se jim zdi infrastruktura in kako zapleteni se jim zdijo upravni postopki. V drža- vah, kjer so te razlike precejšnje, pa na odnos do korupcije vplivajo pogoste spremembe zakonodaje, težave pri izterjavi dolgov ter razlike pri dojemanju resnosti vprašanja podkupnin glede na vrednost podkupnine. Akademski prispevek k znanstvenem področju: Raziskava omogoča boljše razumevanje dejavnikov, ki vplivajo na zaznavanje korupcije v srednjeevrop- skih državah z vidika podjetij. Pri tem uvaja metodologijo, ki je primerna za analizo podatkov, zbranih z anketo, zlasti ker omogoča kategoričnost odvisne spremenljivke. Z uporabo podatkov iz indeksa preglednosti za razlikovanje med državami študija spodbuja nadaljnje teoretične in empirične raziskave razmerja med korupcijo in preglednostjo, s povezovanjem zaznanih težav podjetij s splošno percepcijo korupcije pa pomaga opredeliti morebitna pro- blematična področja v proučevanih državah. Izvirnost/vrednost: Predhodne raziskave so pokazale, da je korupcija pogo- stejša tam, kjer so razlike med dejansko in pravno-formalno preglednostjo ve- čje. Ta raziskava kaže, da lahko proučevanje obsega teh razlik učinkovito pri- speva k boljšemu razumevanju dejavnikov, ki vplivajo na odnos do korupcije. Članek zato razliko med pravno-formalno in dejansko preglednostjo uporablja Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 167 Povzetki kot merilo za analizo dejavnikov, ki vplivajo na zaznavanje korupcije. Takšen pristop je omogočil oblikovanje dveh ločenih logističnih regresijskih modelov z visoko napovedno močjo. Ključne besede: pravno-formalna preglednost, dejanska preglednost, korupcija, od- nos do korupcije, podjetje 3. Analiza raziskav na področju umetne inteligence v javni upravi: pregled literature in analiza besedila Nejc Lamovšek Namen: Glavni namen študije je proučiti, kako lahko analiza akademskih raz- iskav, podprta z digitalnimi orodji, izboljša naše razumevanje uporabnosti, funkcij in izzivov, povezanih z uporabo naprednih umetnih tehnologij (UI) v javni upravi. Metodologija: Metodologija temelji na uporabi digitalnih orodij, zlasti Vo- yant-Tools in Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (GPT-4), za analizo besedil v kombinaciji z izbrano znanstveno literaturo s področja umetne inte- ligence in javne uprave. Ugotovitve: Rezultati naše študije kažejo, da raziskovalci enakovredno poro- čajo o prednostih in slabostih uporabe umetne inteligence v javni upravi. Pri- spevek izpostavlja prednosti uporabe umetne inteligence, hkrati pa poudarja pomen etične in ustrezne ureditve tega področja. Vplivi v praksi: Naš inovativni pristop k razvoju in uporabi kombinirane me- todologije, ki vključuje specializirana digitalna orodja za analizo znanstvene literature, uvaja novo razsežnost v proučevanju znanstvenih besedil in lahko vpliva na oblikovanje javnih politik na področju javne uprave. Izvirnost: S proučevanjem uporabe umetne inteligence v javni upravi študi- ja predstavlja prispevek k znanosti, saj vprašanje umetne inteligence v javni upravi do sedaj še ni bilo ustrezno raziskano. Ključne besede: digitalna orodja, umetna inteligenca, GPT-4, javna uprava, predpisi 4. Pomen upravnega okolja – modeli upravljanja v lokalni upravi Stefanie Vedder, Benjamin Friedländer, Simon Bogumil-Uçan, Tanja Klenk Namen: V zadnjih desetletjih so znanstveniki in strokovnjaki s področja javne uprave z vsega sveta preizkušali različne upravne reforme, s katerimi bi obliko- vali modele upravljanja, ki bi bili primerni za izvajanje nalog javne uprave. Tako lahko danes razlikujemo med (vsaj) tremi konkurenčnimi modeli upravljanja. To so: novi javni menedžment, novo javno upravljanje in (neo)weberjanski model. Čeprav je vsak od teh modelov univerzalno uporaben, različne veje Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023168 Povzetki posameznih upravnih sistemov delujejo v različnih okoliščinah in opravljajo različne naloge. Članek obravnava vprašanje, ali in v kolikšni meri posamezne veje javne uprave v določenem upravnem sistemu podobno dojemajo global- ne javnoupravne koncepte. Zasnova/metodologija/pristop: Članek s pomočjo primerjalne analize prou- čuje dojemanje globalnih javnoupravnih konceptov v različnih upravnih vejah. V študiji sta kot primera uporabljeni nemška finančna in socialna uprava, ki sicer izhajata iz podobno toge weberjanske tradicije, a se razlikujeta po nalo- gah, ki jih opravljata, in okoljih, v katerih delujeta. Rezultati temeljijo na razi- skavi, opravljeni v lokalnih izpostavah obeh uprav. Ugotovitve: Ugotavljamo, da se v strukturnem in operativnem smislu v obeh upravah ohranja trdna weberjanska tradicija, kar kaže na močno odvisnost od zgodovinskega razvoja (t. i. odvisnost od poti) pri dojemanju upravljanja. So pa značilnosti novega javnega menedžmenta in novega javnega upravljanja bolj izrazite v socialni kot v finančni upravi, kar pripisujemo razlikam v nalogah in različnim odnosom, zlasti do političnih akterjev. Akademski prispevek k znanstvenem področju: Študija, ki dopolnjuje do- sedanje podrobne analize (ne)uspešnosti posameznih reform javne uprave, obravnava dolgoročni razvoj strukture in dojemanja javne uprave, ki vključuje tudi več reform. Ob ugotovitvi, da upravna tradicija vsekakor vpliva na obliko- vanje celotnega sistema javne uprave, se prispevek osredotoča na specifične učinke upravnih tradicij na posamezne organizacije, s čimer ponuja izhodišče za prihodnje primerjalne raziskave. Izvirnost/pomembnost/vrednost: Prispevek z izbiro primerjalne metodolo- gije in empiričnih študij dokazuje, da se je namesto operacionalizacije reform javne uprave z večjim številom kazalnikov (po možnosti specifičnih za posame- zno državo) bolj smiselno osredotočiti na minimalno število paradigem, ki jih je mogoče tudi jasneje razmejiti. S takim pristopom zagotavljamo podlago za razširitev primerjalne analize na druge države in upravne sisteme. Ključne besede: finančna uprava, socialna uprava, lokalno upravljanje, upravna kul- tura, odvisnost od poti 5. Analiza deloholizma in izgorelosti med zaposlenimi na upravnih enotah in v dveh izbranih bankah v Sloveniji Tatjana Kozjek, Anja Bandelj Namen: Deloholizem in izgorelost imata lahko škodljive učinke tako na zapo- slene kot na organizacije v zasebnem in javnem sektorju, zato so na tem po- dročju vsekakor potrebne nadaljnje raziskave. Namen prispevka je statistična analiza razlik v spremenljivkah deloholizem in izgorelost (vključno s čustveno izčrpanostjo, depersonalizacijo in osebno učinkovitostjo) med upravnimi eno- tami in izbranima bankama ter med udeleženci na vodstvenih in nevodstvenih položajih in med spoloma. Cilj raziskave je bil analizirati povezave med delo- Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023 169 Povzetki holizmom, čustveno izčrpanostjo, depersonalizacijo in osebno učinkovitostjo. V raziskavi je sodelovalo 621 zaposlenih iz 58 upravnih enot in 404 zaposleni iz dveh izbranih (zasebnih) bank v Sloveniji. Zasnova/metodologija/pristop: Uporabljeni so bili različni metodološki pri- stopi, vključno s statističnimi testi, kot so multivariatna in faktorska analiza, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test in Shapiro-Wilk test, Mann-Whitney U test ter Spe- armanov koeficient korelacije ranga. Ugotovitve: Rezultati raziskave niso pokazali statistično značilnih razlik v spremenljivkah deloholizem in izgorelost niti med upravnimi enotami in izbra- nima bankama niti med udeleženci na vodstvenih in nevodstvenih delovnih mestih ali med spoloma. Je pa raziskava razkrila močno pozitivno korelacijo med deloholizmom in čustveno izčrpanostjo, šibko pozitivno korelacijo med deloholizmom in depersonalizacijo ter rahlo negativno korelacijo med delo- holizmom in osebno učinkovitostjo. Izvirnost/vrednost: Raziskava prispeva k vse večji ozaveščenosti o deloholiz- mu in izgorelosti, s čimer organizacijam ponuja dragocen vpogled v reševanje teh vprašanj in izboljšanje dobrega počutja zaposlenih. Poleg tega bogati ob- stoječo literaturo o deloholizmu in izgorelosti v slovenskem kontekstu. Ključne besede: upravne enote, banke, izgorelost, deloholizem, Slovenija 6. Trendi na področju digitalizacije javne uprave – v luči zakonodaje EU in domačega razvoja Adrián Fábián, Gergő Kollár Namen: Ureditev parametrov vseh vrst identitete – vključno z njenimi elementi, avtentičnostjo in avtentikatorjem, preverljivostjo ter postopkom preverjanja – zahteva posebno pozornost. Pri tem je verjetno najbolj kritičen element njena pojavnost v digitalnem prostoru. Glavni cilj prispevka je proučiti predlog za spre- membo uredbe eIDAS, ki vzpostavlja okvir za evropsko digitalno identiteto. Zasnova/metodologija/pristop: Tematika je v prispevku obravnavana z vidi- ka prava EU in zadnjega strateškega dokumenta madžarskega vladnega odlo- čevalca, vključene pa so tudi znanstvene ugotovitve z zadevnega področja. V članku je ocenjeno trenutno stanje, obenem pa so izpostavljeni predvidljivi in možni učinki novih zakonodajnih sprememb. Ugotovitve: V članku so predstavljene prakse, ki jih za izhodišče določa ured- ba eIDAS, in trenutno stanje digitalizacije na Madžarskem (predvsem v javni upravi). Vpliv v praksi: Poleg tega bomo poskušali opredeliti morebitne priložnosti in prednosti ter tveganja in slabosti, povezane z novim trendom digitalizacije javne uprave v EU in na Madžarskem. Central European Public Administration Review, Vol. 21, No. 2/2023170 Povzetki Izvirnost/vrednost: Po vzpostavitvi temeljev na tem področju bomo pregle- dali naravo spremembe in odziv v državi (nacionalni program za digitalno drža- vljanstvo), da bi ocenili prizadevanja na evropski in madžarski ravni. Ključne besede: varstvo podatkov, digitalna identiteta, eIDAS 2.0, e-uprava 7. Odsotnost ustne obravnave v upravnem sporu: primerjalna analiza Slovenije in Hrvaške Mario Rašić Namen: Pravica do ustne obravnave je pomembna sestavina 6. člena Evropske konvencije o varstvu človekovih pravic. To še posebej velja v upravnih postop- kih, v katerih so stranke v hierarhičnem razmerju. Odsotnost ustne obravna- ve lahko bistveno omeji pravico stranke do poštenega sojenja. Namen tega prispevka je preučiti pozitivno pravo in stanje na področju pravice do ustne obravnave v Republiki Sloveniji in Republiki Hrvaški. Prispevek analizira zadev- ne predpise in sodno prakso ter podaja predloge za prihodnjo zakonodajo, ki naj bo bolje usklajena z učinkovitim pravnim varstvom. Zasnova/metodologija/pristop: Izvedena je bila teoretična raziskava, ki je ana- lizirala trenutne pravne rešitve in sodno prakso z uporabo socioloških razisko- valnih metod. Te so vključevale analizo domačih in mednarodnih pravnih besedil ter pregled pravil, ki urejajo nacionalne upravne postopke v državah, vključenih v raziskavo, v primerjavi z odločitvami Evropskega sodišča za človekove pravice. Uporabljena je bila kombinacija primarnih in sekundarnih virov podatkov. Ugotovitve: Upravna sodišča bi morala dati prednost procesni pravičnosti in enakopravnosti strank v postopku, tudi če ni očitne potrebe po ustni obravna- vi, zlasti če ena od strank zahteva, da nastopi pred sodiščem. V izogib zlorabi diskrecijske pravice bi morali obe stranki pristati na odpoved pravici do ustne obravnave, kar bi moralo tudi sicer biti del uveljavljenega postopka. Prispevek k znanosti: Prispevek podaja predloge za ureditev pravice do ustne obravnave, s katerimi bi okrepili varstvo človekovih pravic v zvezi s poštenim sojenjem tako v upravnih sporih kot v upravnih postopkih. Izvirnost/vrednost: Izvirnost raziskave je v primerjalni analizi upravnih po- stopkov in sporov v izbranih državah članicah. Po avtorjevem najboljšem ve- denju takšna primerjalna študija še ni bila izvedena. Ugotovitve te raziskave bi lahko imele pomembno vrednost, saj poudarjajo potrebo po izboljšanju procesne pravičnosti in enakopravnosti strank pri zagotavljanju poštenega sojenja v upravnih sporih. Ključne besede: upravni spor, upravno pravo, Evropsko sodišče za človekove pravice, pošteno sojenje, ustna obravnava AUTHOR GUIDELINES